Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett made an unannounced trip to Moscow Saturday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Israel alerted the White House in advance of the visit. Bennett, according to his spokesman, later called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Bennett was accompanied by Housing Minister Ze’ev Elkin who speaks Russian and translated during the meeting, which went for around three hours. The White House was informed in advance of the trip, according to a spokeswoman for Bennett.
Bennett has held phone conversations with both Putin and Zelenskyy in recent days as Israel attempts to leverage its good relations with both Kyiv and Moscow to help mediate.
The prime minister also spoke with Putin about the situation facing Israelis and Jewish communities as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, according to an Israeli official.
Putin and Bennett discussed “various aspects of the situation in Ukraine in the context of the Russian special operation to defend Donbas,” the Kremlin said in an emailed statement, which did not give further details of the talks.
