Despite last-minute efforts by President Shimon Peres, Russian President Dimitri Medvedev canceled his planned visit to Israel in February, Beit Hanassi announced Monday afternoon.
Israel was initially included in Medvedev's upcoming tour of the region, but protracted sanctions imposed by the employees' union at the Foreign Ministry prompted the Russian Embassy to cancel the visit. The Russian Embassy notified Beit Hanassi that unless a solution was found by Monday to change the status quo at the Foreign Ministry, the embassy would have no option other than to advise Medvedev to cancel his visit.
Peres had done everything he possibly could do other than one thing to prevent the cancellation. Beit Hanassi has the human resources and the know-how to organize the visit without the input of the Foreign Ministry, but Peres with his socialist background would never override workers' sanctions.
He was however very angry over what he considers to be the irreparable harm that Foreign Ministry workers are causing to Israel by putting obstacles in the way of the visit.
It is not the first time that Foreign Ministry staff have embarrassed the government and the state per se with regard to a visit by a high ranking Russian official. On a previous occasion, Russian Embassy staff had to attend to many of the arrangements which would have otherwise been made by staff from the host country.
The Embassy was not prepared to undergo a similar embarrassment in relation to the President of Russia.
Medvedev was due to arrive with one of the largest delegations ever to accompany a visiting head of state to Israel.
The visit was to have had serious security and trade implications that would have undoubtedly enhanced the relationship between the two countries.
Meanwhile, The Lebanon Daily Star reported that the purpose of the Russian president’s visit to Beirut will be to provide Russian military aid to the Lebanese Army by way of 31 T-72 tanks and six MI 24 helicopters. The grant is part of the military assistance that Russia had agreed to provide to Lebanon during Prime Minister Sa'ad Hariri’s visit to Moscow in November.