Olmert puts Iran on agenda for talks with Putin

MOSCOW, Oct 17 (Reuters) Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the Jewish state was determined to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and that he would discuss the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin tomorrow.

Russia has resisted US pressure for sanctions on Iran, which has ignored UN Security Council demands to halt uranium enrichment. The West suspects Iran is secretly trying to build atomic arms. Iran says its nuclear programme is for electricity.

Olmert has said a nuclear-armed Iran, whose President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the destruction of the Jewish state, would pose an ''existential threat'' to Israel as well as its neighbours.

''We are determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear capabilities. I am convinced (Russia) also do not want them to have nuclear weapons,'' Olmert told reporters on the flight to Moscow today.

Israel is widely believed to have nuclear bombs but has never confirmed this.

Olmert's two-day visit to Russia coincides with the 15th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Many world powers oppose Russia's construction of Iran's first atomic power station at Bushehr, due to open in September 2007.

Israel and the United States are also concerned about a 700-million dollar Russian contract to sell Tor-M1 anti-aircraft systems to Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter. Russia says the Tor-M1 is meant to be used only in self-defence.

LEBANON WAR Battling a drop in opinion poll ratings at home over his handling of the Lebanon war, Olmert is making his first overseas trip since the conflict ended in a ceasefire two months ago and plans to follow it with a visit to the White House in November.

A Kremlin official said talks with the Israeli leader would focus on restoring dialogue between Israel and Palestinians.

Constant Israeli-Palestinian violence and the rise to power of the Islamist militant group Hamas, which has rejected Western demands to recognise Israel, have kept peacemaking on hold.

Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Olmert, said the prime minister would raise the issue of Russia's ties with Syria, Israel's long-time enemy and a Russian arms client.

Israeli security officials have said Russian-made anti-tank missiles supplied to Syria were transferred to Hezbollah and used by the guerrilla group in the Lebanon war.

Olmert said Putin had assured him ''he would never allow Israel's security to be harmed''.

''Putin told me on the phone ... the weapons sold to Syria were for defence purposes only,'' said Olmert, without saying when the conversation took place.

Olmert will meet the Jewish community in Moscow. Some one million Jews immigrated to Israel in the early 1990s from territories that made up the former Soviet Union and are avidly courted by Israeli politicians at election time.

Reuters LL VV2245