Russia said it did not have an alliance with Iran and that Israel's security was one of its "absolute priorities"

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that The security of Israel is one of the "top priorities" of Russia. She denies that Moscow is an ally of Iran in Syria.

"We do not underestimate in any way the measures that ensure a very strong security in the State of Israel. The Israelis know it, the United States knows it and everyone knows it too, including the Iranians, the Turks and the government of Damascus. It is one of the main priorities of Russia. "

Ryabkov said that it is inaccurate to describe Russia and Iran as allies, indicating that the two countries are "working together" only in Syria.

"I would not use that kind of words to describe where we are with Iran, we are working with them and they have helped us a lot when we convened the National Congress of the Syrian People in Sochi, but we at no time do we have the same opinion about what is going on. "

Ryabkov pointed out that Russia has persuaded Iran to withdraw its forces about 85 kilometers from the northern border of Israel.

"You remember that the Russian side acted last year to persuade Tehran to withdraw from the border with Israel with heavy equipmentso this area is better protected and highly controlled militias have not attempted to attack Israel from this front. "

The deputy minister added that the Kremlin was ready to go "further", but negotiations with Tehran failed with the re-imposition of US sanctions.

"At that time, we were ready to go even further, even though it is still very difficult to negotiate with the Iranians, but that did not work, because of the states' inability And Europeans to guarantee, even if the re-imposition of US extraterritorial sanctions on Iran ".

Ryabkov's statements sound like a change of course in the Kremlin. Only a few days ago, Russia asked Israel to stop its air strikes in Syria. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: "The practice of Israel's arbitrary attacks on a sovereign state, in this case Syria, must be abandoned." These comments were formulated following Israel's extensive attack on Iranian targets in response to the firing of a ground-to-ground missile on Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights, which was intercepted by the missile battery Israeli Iron Dome

The Russian message that Israel should stop attacks in Syria has also been pbaded on to Russia's ambbadador to Russia, Gary Koren, during a series of meetings with senior officials in Moscow.

For his part, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that if negotiations with Iran on the ballistic missile program did not progress, Paris would not hesitate to apply new sanctions against Iranians.