by Keren Setton
JERUSALEM, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli-Russian relations have been in a complex state over recent regional developments and diplomatic disagreements.
Russia, an ally of some of Israel's toughest enemies, is not a classic candidate for partnership. But there are mutual interests that bring the two together.
In Syria, Israel and Russia have managed to sustain a model by which the Israeli air force operates against Iranian presence with some degree of cooperation with Russia or at the very least a Russian blind eye.
Russian forces have been on the ground in Syria since 2015, with the aim of stabilizing the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. More than a year ago, a Syrian anti-aircraft missile that aimed at an Israeli aircraft accidentally shot down a Russian plane and killed 15 Russian military personnel.
However, Israel has since appeared to still maintain relative freedom of movement above Syrian skies. It has reportedly carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria.
"Russian President Vladimir Putin told me that if it weren't for our relationship, we might have already found ourselves in a military confrontation," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a radio interview earlier this week.
"We almost collided with Russian planes four times ... in the crowded Syrian airspace," he revealed.
Netanyahu has often boasted about his close relationship with the Russian leader. The two have met more than 10 times in the past years and spoken numerous times over the phone.
"If the relationship wouldn't exist, Israel would have less ability to act in Syria or achieve half of its goals there," said Dina Lisnyansky, a lecturer at the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at Ariel University.
"Russia acts a buffer between Israel and Iran. This relates directly to Israeli national security. Hence the relations are very significant to Israel," she added.
However, in the short term, there exist clashes of interests between the two countries.
"Ultimately ... the interests are not equivalent," said Gideon Remez, a researcher of the Truman Institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "Sooner or later, there is going to be a collision."
"There are more and more indications that the honeymoon between Putin and Netanyahu is cooling, if not ending," Remez added.
One of the thorns in their personal relationship is the case of the Israeli-American woman Naama Issachar, who was arrested in the Moscow airport in April during her transit from India to Israel.
Authorities found fewer than 10 grams of marijuana in her luggage and after trial, she was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison. An appeal for her release was denied last week and attempts by Netanyahu to persuade Putin to pardon her have not succeeded either.
Israeli officials believe the harsh sentence was given as a warning for Israel not to extradite Aleksai Burkov, a Russian hacker detained in Israel, to the United States.
To Russia's dismay, Burkov was extradited last month. It appears that Israel would rather displease Putin than Americans who accuse Burkov of major financial fraud.
In what can be perceived as another sign of Russia's disapproval, a number of Israeli businessmen were detained and then deported from Moscow earlier this month after technical faults were found in their documents.
"The relations with Russia today are ones in which Russia is trying to teach Israel a lesson," Lisnyansky said.
"For the Russians, Israel is just part of a much larger fabric of their interests in the Middle East," Remez added.
However, the issue of laying natural gas pipelines under the waters of the Mediterranean ocean is the strategic threat to disrupt the chessboard.
Earlier this year, Israel, Cyprus and Greece declared a new project aimed at transporting Israeli natural gas reserves to Europe. Should the ambitious project materialize, it will decrease European dependency on Russian gas.
This project puts the American-Russian competition in the region under the spotlight as the natural gas is one of the cornerstones of Russia's economy. The United States led by President Donald Trump has voiced its support for the Israeli-Greek-Cypriot alliance which signals re-alignment of partnerships in the region.
"It's all part of the general Putin scheme to use all possible measures to weaken the western alliance," said Remez.
