Medvedev, Peres meet on Mideast tensions

MOSCOW (AFP) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev held talks Tuesday with Israeli President Shimon Peres on efforts to check Iran's nuclear program, stalled Mideast peace talks and other issues, the Kremlin said.

The informal meeting got under way at Medvedev's official residence in Sochi on Russia's Black Sea coast and was also to focus on plans long in the works for Moscow to host an international Mideast peace conference.

"The situation in the Middle East, which raises serious concern in Russia, will be at the centre of attention in the meeting," the Kremlin said in a background paper distributed ahead of the Sochi meeting.

Welcoming Peres to his residence, Medvedev said there were "more problems than one would like" in the Middle East at present that required discussion, ITAR-TASS news agency said.

Peres also said he planned to discuss "a range of issues" concerning the Middle East peace process in general and Israeli-Russian relations in particular.

Russia is helping Iran build its first nuclear power station while Israel and the United States fear Tehran secretly intends to build atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear energy program.

Tehran vehemently denies this suspicion. The Kremlin said "the situation surrounding Iran" would be on the agenda for the talks.

The Medvedev-Peres meeting comes at a moment of unusually high tension between Israel and its chief ally, the United States, over differences on how to deal with Iran and control Jewish settlement activity.

Russia was "working actively" to ease international tensions over Iran's nuclear program, the Kremlin said, and this issue would be examined in detail during Tuesday's talks.

Russia and Israel were also in agreement on the need to fight efforts to "falsify history," specifically denial of the Holocaust and of Russia's decisive role in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II, the Kremlin said.

"Attempts to rehabilitate Nazis and their supporters are unacceptable for us," it added, without elaborating.

Tuesday's visit to Russia was the first by Peres since he was elected Israeli president in June 2007.