Russia lectured Israel about the Holocaust Tuesday as the Kremlin tried to protect Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov from comparing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, to Adolf Hitler.
Lavrov said during an interview on Italian television Sunday night that Zelenskyy, who is Jewish, “does not negate the Nazi elements in Ukraine,” echoing a line put forward by Russian President Vladimir Putin to support the invasion of Ukraine in the to justify February.
“I believe that Hitler also had Jewish blood, some of the worst anti-Semites are Jews,” Lavrov said on Sunday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gives an annual news conference on Russian diplomacy in 2021 in Moscow January 14, 2022. On Sunday Lavrov compared Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is Jewish, to Adolf Hitler. DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP/Getty Images
Israel was quick to condemn the comments on Monday. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called Lavrov’s comments “unforgivable” and “a terrible historical error” and called for an apology
In response to Israeli outrage, the Russian Foreign Ministry released a lengthy statement entitled “On Antisemitism.”
In a tweet posting a link to the statement, the ministry said Lapid’s statement was “anti-historical,” adding that it “largely explains[s] the current Israeli government’s course in support of the neo-Nazi regime” in Kyiv.
“For some reason, there is still argument in the western press (and some of our liberals) about whether there are neo-Nazis in Ukraine [Volodymyr] Zelensky. The argument is not only baseless, but also misleading. Unfortunately, history knows tragic examples of Jewish collaboration with the Nazis.
“The president’s Jewish ancestry is no guarantee of protection against neo-Nazism in the country,” the ministry said.
The Kremlin has repeatedly said that one of its key objectives in invading neighboring Ukraine is to “denazify” Ukraine. Putin has accused the Ukrainian government of committing genocide against Ukraine’s Russian-speaking population without providing any evidence to support his claims.
The ministry also noted that Lapid’s testimony was “anti-historical,” adding that his office was “cynically ignoring” the “epidemic of destruction and desecration of monuments to the truly righteous peoples of the world — the Red Army soldiers who killed the… stopped the Holocaust and saved the Jewish world.”
On April 26, Ukrainian authorities in the center of the capital Kyiv tore down a Soviet-era bronze monument erected in 1982 to symbolize friendship between Russia and Ukraine.
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the move was in response to Putin’s invasion.
“We see now what this ‘friendship’ is – the destruction of Ukrainian cities […] Killing of tens of thousands of peaceful people. I am convinced that such a monument now has a completely different meaning,” said the mayor.
Photo taken on April 26, 2022 shows the dismantling of the Soviet monument to Ukrainian-Russian friendship in Kyiv. Authorities in Kyiv began tearing down a monument meant to symbolize historic ties between Ukraine and Russia on April 26, 2022, more than two months after Moscow’s troops invaded Ukraine. GENIA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images
Kyiv accuses Moscow of looking for justifications for the “mass murders of Ukrainians”.
“Lavrov’s overtly anti-Semitic statements, allegations of Jews in World War II and the Holocaust are further evidence that Russia is the legal successor to Nazi ideology. In an attempt to rewrite history, Moscow is simply looking for arguments to justify the massacres of Ukrainians.” Mikhail Podolyak, Ukrainian Presidential Advisor, called in a statement on Twitter on Monday.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also criticized Lavrov for his comments on Monday.
“This is the perverse logic of the Russian elite,” Kuleba said in a video statement. “Even Minister Lavrov, who knows what diplomacy is, can no longer hide the ingrained anti-Semitism — the anti-Semitism that is ingrained in the Russian elites.”
Newsweek has reached out to the Israeli foreign minister’s office for comment.
Update 5/3/22 6:19 AM ET: This article has been updated with additional citations and background information.