Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Israel to not sell weapons to the Ukraine.
Putin said that the Israeli weapons in the Ukraine would raise the overall death toll, but in the end Russia would still win. He called any potential new sales “counterproductive”.
Last week, after Russia said it would remove the ban on the sale of the S300 surface-to-air missiles to Iran, PM Netanyahu reportedly called Putin to strongly express his concerns.
The S300 missile system is potentially capable of taking down Israeli or US planes attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities. An option Israel is weighing as a means to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Russia had previously cancelled a sale of the S300 missile system to Syria at Israel’s request, but the sale to Iran is a far larger, and more important deal for Russia to ultimately give up on, in terms of both money and regional influence.
Israel has reportedly sold weapons to the Ukraine in the past, but stopped after a similar Russian request.
On Saturday, the Iranians displayed their supposed home-grown version of the S300, which they call the S373. But there’s very little chance they’ve developed anything equivalent.