Rabin Arrives in Moscow for Talks on Ways to Keep Peace Momentum

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the highest-ranking Israeli leader ever to visit Russia, arrived in Moscow on Sunday, seeking ways to maintain the momentum of the Middle East peace process.

Rabin, on a four-day trip, was met at Moscow’s Vnukovo diplomatic airport by Russian Prime Minister Viktor S. Chernomyrdin.

Before leaving for Moscow, Rabin was briefed at Tel Aviv airport by Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who had returned to Israel several hours earlier from meetings in Bucharest, Romania, with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat.

Army chief Ehud Barak and his deputy, Amnon Shahak, also participated in the briefing. Shahak is Israel’s chief negotiator at the Cairo peace talks with the Palestine Liberation Organization.

On the eve of his trip, Rabin told army radio that he would seek more active Russian involvement in the peace process. Russia and the United States are co-sponsors of the Middle East peace talks.

“I hope that we will be able to establish much closer contacts with the Russian leadership concerning the peace process,” Rabin said.

Last week, Arafat paid his first visit to Russia since the 1991 collapse of Communist rule.

Arafat accused Israel of stalling a withdrawal from the West Bank town of Jericho and the Gaza Strip, due to come under Palestinian control under a deal signed in Washington last year. He told journalists that he would propose that Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin ask Rabin: “Are you serious about peace or not?” If not, Arafat said, the result could be anarchy in the region.

Israel has said differences over the scope of Palestinian jurisdiction over the two areas have held up the pullout.