Putin to visit Israel

The Israeli paper Haartez said on Monday that the Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Israel next month at the invitation extended to him by the Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak.

The Israeli radio quoted the Israeli paper as saying that Putin will discuss with the Israeli officials means of establishing bilateral cooperation relations.

Meantime, Israeli sources said the a qualitative leap has been achieved concerning the relations between Israel and Russia. The sources added that Barak held a series of telephone talks with Putin since his elections as President for Russia and briefed him on latest ME peace process developments.