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Israeli and Russian officials hold talks in Moscow

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January 4, 2001 

MOSCOW, JAN 3 (UNB/AP) - Top Israeli officials flew to Moscow on Wednesday to brief Russian diplomats on the Middle East peace process and ask Russia to use its influence to discourage violence in the region.

Israeli Cabinet secretary Yitzhak Herzog and Danny Yatom, Prime Minister Ehud Barak's political and security adviser, met with Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Avdeyev. They gave Avdeyev a message from Barak for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The meeting came as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was in Washington for talks with U.S. President Bill Clinton. A top Palestinian official said Wednesday in Washington that Arafat had given Clinton qualified acceptance of a U.S.-backed peace plan, a plan that Israel has not yet agreed to.

Herzog said on Russian RTR television that he delivered a message from Barak to Putin about Arafat's meetings in Washington. The contents of the letter were not made public.

"I came in order to inform our good friends in Russia about our common situation in the Middle East," Yatom said in an interview with Associated Press Television News after the meeting.

He said he told the Russians "about the need to convince Arafat to try take extra actions against terror and against violence. We think that Russia can play a very positive and decisive role in achieving tranquility in the Middle East, and achieving settlement."

Russia is a co-sponsor of the Middle East peace process along with the United States, and both Israeli and Palestinian officials have been in regular contact with Russian diplomats, although the United States has dominated most of the negotiating process. The Israeli officials were scheduled to le ave Moscow on Wednesday.