MOSCOW, June 7. /TASS/. Israel and Russia have signed a number of agreements on social support, customs regulation and cooperation in the energy sphere, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday at a press conference after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"We have now ended a very effective and extensive meeting. We have signed a few important deals for both countries in the spheres of energy, agriculture, pension provision, preservation of social rights and a customs treaty," Netanyahu said.
The pensions treaty refers first of all to the payment of Russian pensions to Israelis who did not keep the previous citizenship after immigration from the Soviet Union and Russia.
The visit of Netanyahu to Moscow is timed to the 25th anniversary of restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Among the most important topics of talks of the Israeli leader with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin press service mentioned "the situation in Syria and around it, as well as the state and prospects of the Palestino-Israeli settlement."
The Israeli press underscored the warm nature of the two leaders’ meetings against the background of American-Israeli differences’ aggravation.
The return of a Magach tank
Netanyahu has thanked Putin for his decision to return a Magach tank exhibited at a museum of armored vehicles near Moscow to Israel.
"Your decision demonstrates the deep relations our countries have. The families of those missing after that battle for decades have had no tombs to visit in memory of their near and dear," Netanyahu said at a meeting with President Putin on Tuesday.
The Israeli army lost the Magach tank in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley during the First Lebanon War of 1982. Three Israeli soldiers went missing then. On May 29, the office of the Israeli prime minister reported that after a request by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Russia agreed to return the lost Magach tank Netanyahu called "the only evidence of the battle" back to Israel. An Israeli military delegation is currently staying in Moscow to consider, along with Russian army personnel, how to transfer the tank to Israel.
The Magach tank has been used as an exhibit at a museum outside Moscow since the 1980s.
The First Lebanon War, which lasted from June to September 1982, was the scene of fighting between the Israeli and Syrian armies.