Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting Moscow on Tuesday, the Kremlin confirmed, with Russia's planned missiles sales to Syria expected to top the agenda, dpa reported.
Israeli officials have warned that Russia's delivery of S-300 surface-to-air missiles to its key ally Syria would dramatically change the balance of power in the region.
Neither country mentioned the missiles ahead of the talks between Netanyahu and President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin only said that the two leaders will discuss the situation in the Middle East, first and foremost in Syria.
If the missiles do reach Syria, "or worse," the Shiite Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, "we all should lack sleep over that," Israeli Energy Minister Silvan Shalom said Sunday.
Russia, the main supplier of weapons to the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, last week defended its delivery of the missiles, saying the weapons were for defensive purposes only.
"This is not a breach of any international prohibitions," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Warsaw, where he met his counterparts from Poland and Germany.
Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday he was ready "to receive any sort of weaponry, even if it is going to disturb the balance in the region" and vowed to help Damascus "liberate" the Golan Heights, captured by Israel from Syria in 1967.
The Kremlin did not say where Putin and Netanyahu would meet, but Russian media said it would be in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.