Putin stresses importance of joining efforts in fight against Islamic State

MOSCOW, July 30. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has stressed importance of joining efforts in the fight against Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization in a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Kremlin press service said on Thursday. Telephone talks were initiated by the Israeli side, the press service added. "A comprehensive exchange of opinions about the situation in the Middle East was made. The Russian president stressed the importance of joining efforts of all interested parties in the fight against threat coming from the Islamic State group," the Kremlin noted. In a conversation with Putin, Netanyahu voiced concerns about Iran’s nuclear program. The Russian president said he was confident that the Joint Plan of Action agreed in Vienna on July 12 on final settlement of the situation around Iranian nuclear program and UN Security Council Resolution 2231 adopted on 20 July 2015 "envisage reliable guarantees that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful." "The Russian leader expressed confidence that successful implementation of the Joint Plan of Action will strengthen the regime of nuclear non-proliferation and will have a positive effect on security and stability in the Middle East," the Kremlin stressed. Putin and Netanyahu also agreed on supporting further development of Russian-Israeli cooperation. The two leaders agreed to maintain contacts, the press service added. On April 14, Putin held a telephone conversation with Netanyahu to brief him on the logic behind the Russian leadership’s decision to lift the freeze from the contract to sell S-300 air defense systems to Iran. The Kremlin’s press service has said the Russian leader put the emphasis on the fact that the S-300 system had entirely defensive functions and by no means endangered the security of Israel or other countries in the Middle East. Read more