Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi left for Moscow on Monday, just two days after his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov met with a Hezbollah representative.
Lavrov met with Mohammad Raad, the head of Hezbollah’s bloc in the Lebanese parliament, Russian state media TASS reported this week.
Ashkenazi has tried to convince countries around the world to designate all of Hezbollah – including its political activities – as a terrorist organization. Russian officials have said in recent years that they view Hezbollah as legitimate, and not a terrorist group.
An Israeli diplomatic source said the Foreign Ministry views the timing of Lavrov and Raad’s meeting as coincidental, and not an intentional slight.
Ashkenazi plans to meet with Lavrov on Wednesday, and intends to ask him what was discussed in the meeting with the Hezbollah representative, the diplomatic source said.
The foreign ministers are also expected to discuss diplomatic and security issues, including Iran. Russia supports an American and Iranian return to the 2015 nuclear deal.
Syria is also on the agenda, with Israel and Russia having an open line of communications about Israeli actions against Iranian proxies in Syria.
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They will likely discuss Russian efforts to recover the bodies of Israelis missing in action in Syria, such as spy Eli Cohen.
In addition, Ashkenazi seeks to reach an agreement by which Russia would recognize Israeli “Green Passports,” as the certificates for people who have been vaccinated against or recovered from COVID-19 are known.
However, the Israeli Health Ministry does not accept the Russian COVID-19 vaccine. The diplomatic source said Israel has proposed that Russians seeking to visit the country undergo a PCR or serological test to show they have antibodies against coronavirus before visiting, but they will not have to go into quarantine upon arrival.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the topics for the meeting will also include “counteracting attempts to revise the history and results of World War II.” Russia and other Eastern European countries, especially Poland, have been involved in diplomatic spats about their respective roles in World War II and the Holocaust.
In addition, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the ministers will discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and emphasized that Russia seeks a two-state solution.
Before his meeting with Lavrov, Ashkenazi is expected to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow.
Ashkenazi will also take part in an unveiling ceremony for a Holocaust Memorial at the Israeli Embassy to Russia.
He plans to return to Israel on Wednesday evening.
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