Israeli PM visits Moscow for talks with Putin on Ukraine
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett traveled to Moscow with his national security adviser and other officials Saturday to meet at the Kremlin with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Israeli and Russian officials.
Interfax, a state-controlled news outlet in Russia, reported that the war in Ukraine was on the agenda. “The situation around Ukraine is being discussed,” a Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said.
Bennett’s office said in a statement Saturday evening that the meeting with Putin lasted about three hours and took place “in coordination and with the blessing of the U.S. administration.”
The statement added that Bennett was working in coordination with Germany and France and was “in ongoing dialogue with Ukraine.”
There was no immediate information about any outcome from the meeting. A spokesperson for Bennett said he had spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after his meeting with Putin.
The Israeli government has tried to maintain good relations with both the Russian and Ukrainian leaders during the crisis, and Bennett was previously asked by Zelenskyy to mediate between the sides.
Bennett left Moscow on
Saturday evening on his way to Berlin to meet with the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Scholz was in Israel for a short visit this past week and, in a meeting with Bennett, discussed Israel’s possible role in mediation between Russia and Ukraine.
Bennett had spoken by phone with Putin on Wednesday, hours after speaking with Zelenskyy, the last of a few rounds of phone conversations between them.
In a sign of the urgency of the mission, Bennett, an observant Jew, left Israel on Saturday morning, during the Sabbath, breaking the religious injunction against travel. According to Jewish religious law, the sanctity of the Sabbath is overridden by the principle of preserving human life.
Bennett was accompanied by Zeev Elkin, Israel’s housing minister, who assisted with translation, according to the Israeli prime minster’s office.