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Mr Medvedev and Mr Netanyahu discussed, in particular, bilateral cooperation and the situation in the Middle East.

Dmitry Medvedev confirmed that Russia's position concerning sanctions against Iran remains unchanged. Russia continues to believe that Iran should cooperate more actively and extensively with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other countries when providing information about its nuclear programme. The international community must be confident about the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme.

Following their talks, the two leaders issued a joint declaration on the sixty-fifth anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany.

The international community faces new threats and challenges, including terrorism and the proliferation of nuclear weapons that jeopardise peace and security in the world, the declaration reads.

In this respect, it goes on, there have been attempts to rewrite history, revise the outcome of World War II as cemented in the UN Charter and other international legal agreements, deny the fundamental and indisputable fact that the Holocaust took place, make heroes of the Nazis and their accomplices, and tarnish those who brought about liberation from Nazism. All of this is fraught with the danger of a revival of theories of racial purity and supremacy and the spread of a new wave of xenophobia.

In such a situation, the role of political leaders, their moral stand and their resolve not to let new tragedies happen are more important than ever, the declaration says.

The declaration also states that given the immense significance of victory over Nazism for both peoples, Russia and Israel will hold joint events to mark the sixty-fifth anniversary of this historic event.

This victory freed humanity from the threat of fascist tyranny, the two leaders said in their declaration. Jews fought shoulder to shoulder with the other peoples of the Soviet Union, and many of these veterans today live in Russia, Israel and other countries, the declaration states.