Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu avoided questions about whether his country agreed to pay Russia to provide coronavirus vaccines to Syria as part of a prisoner exchange between the two countries in the Middle East.
Netanyahu confirmed on Saturday night that negotiations with Russia took place as part of efforts to bring back an Israeli woman trapped in Syria. He said he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin twice to close the deal, but denied that Israel would supply him with his own vaccines.
“I mean that not even an Israeli vaccine was used for this thing,” said Netanyahu. “We brought the woman back. I’m glad we did that. I thank President Putin for doing this. And more than that, I will not add because that was the Russian request. “
The deal was first reported by a US-based blogger Richard Silverstein and the New York Times, who said Israel had secretly agreed to pay Russia to send vaccines to Syria to ensure the return of the Israeli woman.
Israel described the exchange as a standard prisoner exchange. The prime minister did not deny the purchase of Russian vaccines, however, and a person familiar with the deal said that was part of the deal.