According to reports, Israel paid more than $ 1 million to get COVID-19 vaccines for nemesis Syria as part of a secret prisoner exchange deal.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted last week that his warm ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin contributed to the return of a 23-year-old Israeli woman held captive in Damascus.
But instead of a direct exchange of prisoners for two Syrian herders, as first revealed, Israel has actually paid Russia to send its Sputnik V vaccines to Syria to facilitate the exchange, according to The Times of Israel and other Israelis. media.
Netanyahu remained cautious when questioned on Saturday about the reports, saying that “not one Israeli vaccine” had been delivered to Syria – but without ruling out that Israel had paid Russia for the vaccine supply.
“We returned the woman. I am glad we did this. I thank President Putin for doing this, ”he told reporters, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“I will not add more, because that was the Russian request,” he said.
The Associated Press said the vaccine deal was $ 1.2 million, while a source told Al Jazeera it was “millions of dollars.” Full details of the deal were censored by the Israeli military, the outlet said.
“It is legitimate for the Israeli government to decide to deviate from old standards and pay with a different form of currency,” Yoav Limor, an Israeli military correspondent, wrote in Hayom.
However, the decision to hide that is mind-boggling and worrying. Obviously, someone was very uncomfortable when that issue came to light. “
The Israeli government declined to comment on the inclusion of vaccines in the prison exchange deal, the WSJ said.
Russian officials have not commented on the deal, while the Syrian state news agency quoted an unidentified source as denying coronavirus vaccines were part of the deal, the WSJ report said.
With pole wires