MOSCOW. May 20 (Interfax) - The Israeli military attache, Col. Vadim Leiderman, who has been expelled from Russia, was lobbying the interests of a private Israeli drone firm, the newspaper Vedomosti wrote on Friday.
Leiderman was lobbying military drones, manufactured by the private Israeli company Elbit to the detriment of the state Israeli company IAI, whose Searcher drones (Russian reporting name Forpost) are assembled under a license at the Urals Civil Aviation Plant within the framework of a $400 million contract, the newspaper writes, citing a source in the Russian defense industry.
This angered the IAI, the source said.
The vacancy is expected to be filled by military doctor Kobi Haviv, who does not speak Russia, according to the Izrus web portal.
"A source in Russian special services said that the replacement of the Russian-speaking Leiderman with a diplomat who does not speak Russian, is logical since the former was overly active in the Russian environment," Vedomosti wrote.
The Leiderman incident will not impact Russia's military-technical cooperation with Israel, or with Israeli firms, including under the assembly project with the IAI, the newspaper said, citing a Russian Defense Ministry source.