The Israeli Prime Minister is involved in trying to find a way out of the Ukrainian crisis.

Naftali Bennett launched mediation on Saturday with visits to Moscow then Berlin and a telephone interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

So far, Naftali Bennett has not joined in the chorus of international condemnation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, stressing the strong ties that unite Israel with Moscow and Kiev.

Because of this closeness to the two belligerents, Israel offered to mediate, a proposal supported by Ukrainian officials.

A three-hour meeting with Putin

The Prime Minister therefore flew to Moscow on Saturday where he met Vladimir Putin for “about three hours”, according to his services.

This is the first visit to Russia by a foreign leader, linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

He then spoke on the phone with Volodymyr Zelensky before traveling to Berlin to meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Few details have leaked out on the exact content of the talks in Moscow.

Naftali Bennett was notably accompanied by his Housing Minister, the Russian-speaking Zeev Elkin, originally from Ukraine.

The Prime Minister's office did not explicitly mention the Russian invasion, confining itself to indicating that he had mentioned "the situation of the Israelis and the Jewish communities following the conflict".

The Kremlin for its part indicated that Putin and Bennett had discussed “the various aspects of the situation in Ukraine within the framework of the special military operation of Russia for the protection of Donbass”.

Before this meeting, Naftali Bennett consulted with the United States, Germany and France.

Emmanuel Macron consulted

The Elysée thus explained that Emmanuel Macron had "spoken to the Prime Minister this morning before he left for Moscow in a logic of coordinating efforts to obtain a cessation of fighting".

“The president told him about his last conversations with President Putin.

They will stay in contact with this same objective, which is to obtain a ceasefire, and this also in coordination with Chancellor Scholz”.

But for analysts, Naftali Bennett's chances of influencing the Russian position are slim.

The editor of The

Times of Israel

questions whether the prime minister “can contribute in any way to restraining Russian military activity.”

And seems to conclude in the negative: “Vladimir Putin does not seem to be a man of compromise.

Will the Prime Minister of Israel (…) be able to change that?

»

The former Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren, on the other hand, is a little more optimistic.

“Everything will depend on Putin's state of mind.

Before the war, he sent French President Emmanuel Macron on the roses.

But Russia is in a different position today and Putin may be looking for a way out.

Naftali Bennett could be the one to provide him with the ladder”.

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  • Russia

  • Vladimir Poutine

  • Volodymyr Zelensky

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  • World

  • War in Ukraine

  • Israel

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