Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has bypassed questions whether his country has agreed to pay Russia to provide coronavirus vaccines to Syria as part of a prisoner swap between the two Middle Eastern countries.
Mr Netanyahu confirmed on Saturday evening that negotiations with Russia were taking place as part of efforts to bring back an Israeli woman detained in Syria. He said he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin twice to close the deal, but denied that Israel provided its own vaccines for it.
“I want to say that not one Israeli vaccine went for this thing,” said Mr. Netanyahu. “We returned the woman. I am glad we did this. I thank President Putin for doing this. And I will not add more than this, 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 secretly agreed to pay Russia to send vaccines to Syria to prevent the return of the Israeli woman. to ensure.
Israel has described the exchange as a standard prisoner exchange. However, the prime minister did not deny buying the Russian vaccines and a person familiar with the deal said it was part of the deal.