The official visit here of Russian V ice President Alexander Rutskoi this week is focused on economics and agriculture, though it is also a diplomatic landmark.
Rutskoi, the second-highest official of the largest of the Soviet successor states, is clearly interested in international investment and aid. Israel is anxious for a chance to offer its skills in agriculture, medicine and industrial technology.
Rutskoi, who is the right-hand man of President Boris Yeltsin, arrived late Tuesday and was greeted by Housing Minister Ariel Sharon at the airport.
He met privately with Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir on Wednesday. They were joined later by the Israel-based international financier Saul Eisenberg and David Kimche, former director general of the Foreign Ministry, who has gone into international trade since ending his diplomatic career and spends considerable time in the former Soviet Union.
Shamir praised Russia for adopting a “balanced policy” toward the Middle East, thereby earning a role for itself in regional peacemaking.
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