A delegation from the Russian Federation Council, headed by Speaker Valentina Matviyenko, is paying an official visit to Israel and will conduct a “working visit” to the Palestinian Authority, starting Tuesday this week, TASS reported.
The Russian parliamentarians plan to discuss prospects for bilateral cooperation, as well as the situation in the Middle East, in their talks with the Israeli leadership. Speaker Matviyenko said in a statement that Russia and Israel are “two equal partners that demonstrate high effectiveness of cooperation on key issues of international policy and bilateral cooperation.”
The Federation Council Speaker will take part in a session of the Knesset and hold a meeting with Speaker Yuli Edelstein. Edelstein was born in Chernivtsi in the Soviet Union (now Ukraine), Matviyenko was also born in Ukraine, but started her political career in the 1980s in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg).
The visiting Russians will also hold meetings with the Israel-Russia inter-parliamentary friendship association and visit the Russian Center of Science and Culture in Jerusalem.
On the PA leg of their visit, the Russians will visit Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, schools run by the Russian-Palestinian friendship association, and a Russian center that was inaugurated in late 2015.
Israel is Russia’s major provider of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV): in April 2009 Russia purchased a $53 million package of Israeli drones, followed by a $100 million deal, also in 2009. In October 2010, in a third deal, Russia purchased an additional $400 million worth of drones from the Israel Aerospace Industries, to be assembled in Russia. In 2015, one of those drones was shot down by the Ukrainian army outside Donetsk, Ukraine. Later in the year, the Russian army purchased its fourth, $300 million package of drones from Israel.