In an attempt to get the Russians to hold their fire in the Ukraine war, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett set out on Saturday for a round of visits and meetings with European leaders – the key one taking place with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. This was Putin's first meeting with a western leader since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.
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After the meeting on Saturday, a cabinet minister told Israel Hayom that Bennett's attempts to broker between Russia and Ukraine were genuine and serious, but given the current situation, he would find it difficult.
"This is not a game or a round of media appearances," the minister said, rejected criticism of the move by senior members of the Likud party.
"Last week, Bennett held meeting with several world leaders, and he wouldn't have been received at the Kremlin if there hadn't been anything to them. President Putin appreciates him and therefore he [Bennett] was the first western leader to get to him. Still, the way it looks now, it won't be easy to broker a compromise between the two sides. But the attempt is a serious one," the minister said.
A diplomatic official spoke to Israel Hayom and expressed hope that Bennett's efforts would secure results, but added that if the attempt failed, Israel would still benefit internationally. According to the official, Israel's work in transmitting messages between the sides strengthened Israel's image as a western but relatively neutral state and justified Jerusalem's moderate line on Moscow. Unlike most of the west, Israel has not joined the sanctions against Putin.
The official also told Israel Hayom that the goal of the meeting was to mediate between Russia and Ukraine and the West. When the meeting was over, a diplomatic official said that Bennett and Putin had talked about the war's effect on Israel and the Jewish communities. Another major issued Bennett raised with Putin was the possibility of allowing any Russian Jews interested in emigrating to Israel to do so.
Ukraine's ambassador to Israel told CNN that his government had been informed ahead of time that Bennett would be meeting with Putin, and that Ukraine supported the move.
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