Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman met with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday.

After the meeting, Lieberman told reporters that Russia’s positions on the Middle East “were not helpful.”

“Israel and Russia differ on a number of issues regarding relations between Israel and the Palestinians, and events in the Middle East,” Lieberman said. “I hope Russia will consider Israel’s positions on these matters very carefully.”

Lieberman said that at present, “Russia supports steps that only favor one side – the side of the Palestinians.”

Such a posture, Lieberman said, “does not contribute to promoting agreement and good relations between Israel and the Palestinians.”

“The supply of advanced weapons to Syria, especially in the circumstances that prevail there today, could bear with it unwanted and unintended consequences that benefit no one,” he added.

Nonetheless, Lieberman expressed his satisfaction over the improvement in economic relations, and increasing trade and tourism, between Israel and Russia.

Lieberman said, twenty years after the renewal of relations between Israel and Russia, that he considers the overall balance very positive – noting positive dialogue on political, economic, and cultural concerns.

He also conveyed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s invitation to visit Israel to Putin.