MOSCOW. Aug 31 (Interfax) - The issue of Russian armored personnel carriers' deliveries to Palestine will be raised during Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak's visit to Russia on September 5 to 7, Israeli Ambassador to Russia Anna Azari has announced.
"We hope this issue will be discussed during the visit," she said.
Azari confirmed that the visit will take place on September 5 to 7 and that Barak is expected to meet with Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.
Israeli ambassadors around the world "are on partial strike" and Israeli diplomats in Moscow are not preparing Barak's visit to Russia, she said.
"A broad agenda of military-technical cooperation issues will be addressed during Barak's visit, although I cannot be sure since I am on strike," Azari said.
The issue of Russian arms shipments to Syria will be raised among other matters, she added.
Earlier reports said that Russian armored vehicles were officially accepted in a ceremony on July 19 in Jordan, where they had arrived by sea, and Russian specialists have trained Palestinian drivers and mechanics to handle them.
The Russian Foreign Ministry explained that the armored vehicles will remain there until the Palestinian and Israeli sides come to terms on the timeframe and modality of their transfer to the West Bank.
The 50 BTR-70 armored personnel carriers had been taken from the Defense Ministry's stock and are being delivered without weapons. The decision to ship Russian armored personnel carriers to Palestine was made several years ago. Israel gave its consent to the shipments in 2009 on condition that the guns on them would be dismantled. Talks with Israel on the mechanism of shipments lasted throughout 2009.