For two and a half hours: Bennett talks to Putin in Moscow

For two and a half hours
Bennett speaks with Putin in Moscow

Israel maintains good relations with Ukraine and Russia and is therefore being discussed as a mediator. Now Prime Minister Bennett is making a surprise trip to Moscow. The talks with President Putin are said to have ended in the meantime.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has surprisingly come to Russia for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Bennett is in Moscow for a short working visit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Interfax agency. “The situation around Ukraine is being discussed.” The conversation has already ended, but there will be no Kremlin announcement about it.

Government circles in Jerusalem said the conversation lasted three hours. Bennett has coordinated with the US, Germany and France and is “in constant communication with Ukraine”. He also spoke to Putin about the situation of the Israelis and the Jewish communities in view of the conflict. Bennett then traveled on to Germany for a meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, it said.

Israel is being discussed as a mediator in the Ukraine conflict. According to media reports, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj Bennett is said to have asked Bennett to organize negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Israel a week ago. According to Bennett’s office, the meeting with Putin was attended by Israeli housing minister Seew Elkin, who is helping with the translation. Elkin comes from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and is considered a Putin expert. He had also always attended meetings between Bennett’s predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Putin.

Bennett flew to Moscow in the early hours of Saturday morning, following a meeting with Putin on Wednesday, his office also said. As a religious Jew, Bennett is only allowed to travel on the Jewish day of rest, the Sabbath, if it is about saving human life.

Bennett also spoke to Selenskyj on the phone on Wednesday. Selenskyj, himself of Jewish descent, had recently expressed disappointment at what he believed to be the lack of support from Israel. According to media reports, Bennett had refused Selenskyj’s requests for arms deliveries.

Israel has good relations with both countries, but also finds itself in a conflict. It does not want to upset its main ally, the United States, but at the same time depends on Moscow’s goodwill for strategic reasons, including in the conflicts with Syria and Iran.

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