Putin makes historic trip to Israel

JERUSALEM — Greeted by beaming Israeli officials, Vladimir Putin on Wednesday became the first Kremlin leader to visit the Jewish state, capping a historic rapprochement between two nations that once faced each other as bitter enemies across the Cold War divide.

Putin, on his first Middle East trip, was also hoping to restore his country's profile as a major player in the region and the world, bringing with him a fresh proposal for a conference to be held in Moscow in the autumn.

"Considering the history of relations and the fact that there were times that we were on one side and Russia was entirely on the other side . . . (the visit) indicates the significant change that took place between the two countries," Israeli Vice Premier Ehud Olmert said as he stood on the airport tarmac waiting to greet Putin.

The Soviet Union supported Israel during the Jewish state's early years, but relations soon deteriorated — and eventually collapsed — as Israel increasingly allied itself with the United States. Moscow cut ties with Israel in 1967 in the context of a Mideast war and strongly backed the Arab states. In many of its wars with its Arab neighbors, Israel found itself facing Soviet-trained pilots flying Soviet MiG fighter jets.

Moscow also barred Jews from leaving, jailing many who demanded the right to emigrate to Israel.

As the Soviet Union was collapsing in the early 1990s, the two nations restored ties, and Moscow loosened emigration restrictions, prompting more than a million Russian speakers to immigrate to Israel. Natan Sharansky, a Jewish emigration activist who spent nine years in a Soviet jail on an espionage charge, is now Israel's minister for Diaspora affairs. Sharansky and Putin have no plans to meet, according to Israeli and Russian officials.

Relations are continuing to improve under Putin, who took office in 2000, as he tries to push Russia's economic interests abroad and evoke parallels between Israel's conflict with Palestinian militants and Russia's campaign against Chechen rebels.

But there are strains as well, including Russia's determination to push ahead with a missile sale to Syria, one of Israel's bitterest enemies. Other potential sore points include Moscow's nuclear aid to Iran and signs of rising anti-Semitism in Russia.

Putin has sought to use the Middle East conflict to help restore Russia's stature on the international stage, where its presence is dwarfed by the United States. It has joined Europe, the United Nations and the United States in the so-called Quartet of Mideast peacemakers, and Palestinians view Russia as an important counterweight to U.S. support for Israel.