Claims Israelis are fighting alongside neo-nazis inflame rift with Kremlin

‘It seems that the cocaine shortage has forced the foreign ministry to move onto something heavier’

RUSSIA further alienated itself from a one-time ally as Moscow suggested Israeli mercenaries were fighting alongside “neo-nazis” in Ukraine.

A row between Russia and Israel broke out at the start of this week over Moscow’s continued claim that it is seeking to “de-nazify” its neighbour through the invasion.

In an interview Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said Adolf Hitler had “Jewish roots” as he tried to explain why Moscow keeps describing the Ukrainian leadership as “Nazi” despite Volodymyr Zelensky being Jewish.

Maria Zakharova, the foreign ministry’s spokeswoman, claimed yesterday that “Israeli mercenaries, too, are fighting practically shoulder-to-shoulder with Azov militants” in Ukraine. Russia considers the Azov battalion, which is defending Mariupol and has had farright links, a neo-nazi group.

“How are we supposed to feel about it?” Ms Zakharova told state-owned Sputnik Radio, claiming that she had seen “videos and evidence” to support the statement.

The Israeli government called Mr Lavrov’s earlier remarks “unforgivable” and summoned the Russian ambassador. Vladimir Putin has built close ties with Israel following decades of outright hostility between the Soviet Union and Israel.

Israel never joined Western sanctions for Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, and its religious leaders have praised Vladimir Putin, calling Russia one of the least anti-semitic places in Europe. However, Russia’s chief rabbi Berel Lazar, known for his friendship with Mr Putin and who once officiated the opening of Moscow’s Jewish Museum, yesterday urged Moscow “to stop invoking the ethnicity of its opponents” and referring to the Second World War for moral justification.

An adviser to Mr Zelensky mocked Ms Zakharova’s comments, citing a drug heist in Estonia last month in which half a billion euros worth of cocaine bound for Russia was seized at the border.

“It seems that the cocaine shortage has forced the foreign ministry to move on to something heavier,” Mykhailo Podolyak said yesterday.

The Azov battalion rose to prominence in 2014, when its activists took up arms to fight pro-russian separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, but have since fallen under the command of Ukraine’s military.