"Tomorrow, I am leaving on a diplomatic visit to Russia , at the invitation of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who invited me approximately 1.5-2 months ago.  We tried to arrange dates but every time it was postponed.  Ten days ago, after my resignation as prime minister, he reissued his invitation and asked that it take place this week.
 
One must remember one thing, that Russia is an important and strong global superpower, both militarily and economically.  There is a series of issues on the security, military, diplomatic and international agenda between us and Russia . And these issues have been discussed at length between us, and must continue to be discussed.  This will be the first meeting between our senior leadership and President Medvedev since his 7.5.08 election.  We will deal with various issues, including those that are of special, immediate, concern to us, including both the supply of weapons to irresponsible elements, the actions of which greatly disturb us, and the Iranian problem, in which Russia has special weight.  Thus, this is an important trip and is being coordinated with all diplomatic and security elements.
 
Naturally, our attention was focused, this past week, on the global markets, especially on events in the US .  During the week, Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On, Bank of Israel Governor Prof. Stanley Fisher and I held regular consultations in various forums.  We spoke daily and will continue to do so in order to monitor the situation."
 
Prime Minister Olmert referred to the upcoming Yom Kippur holiday and conveyed holiday greetings to the entire Jewish People.