Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaking during a news conference at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on January 2, 2022. (AFP)
Bennett has so far joined other foreign leaders in condemning the Russian invasion, emphasizing Israel’s strong ties with both Moscow and Kyiv.
- AFP
- Last Update:March 05, 2022, 23:34 IST
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Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held Kremlin talks with Vladimir Putin on Saturday, the Russian president’s second meeting with a foreign leader since his military invaded Ukraine last week. Bennett has so far joined other foreign leaders in condemning the Russian invasion, emphasizing Israel’s strong ties with both Moscow and Kyiv. Ukraine had previously asked Bennett to mediate.
A statement from Bennett’s office said the premier “left for Moscow this morning, after speaking with President Putin last Wednesday.” Bennett is a religious Jew who does not conduct official business on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath, except in exceptional circumstances.
An Israeli official said the Kremlin talks lasted three hours. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies that Putin and Bennett were “discussing the situation in Ukraine.”
Ukraine appeared to be the first meeting with a foreign leader devoted to the conflict. The day the invasion began, Putin received Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan in the Kremlin, in a visit that was long-scheduled but widely considered ill-timed.
On Monday, Khan defended the visit – the first by a Pakistani leader to Russia in more than two decades. “My foreign policy is independent and visits to China and Russia will prove beneficial to Pakistan in the future,” he said in his televised address.
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