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TEL AVIV — Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held talks in the Kremlin Saturday with President Vladimir Putin over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and then spoke with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky in an attempt to resolve the conflict, which has resulted in mounting civilian casualties and refugees .
Before Mr. Bennett’s visit, the diplomacy of President Biden and European leaders failed to stop Mr. Putin from invading Ukraine or rolling back his tanks. In the face of massive Western sanctions, Mr. Putin has found himself increasingly cut off from the world, with little room for diplomacy, and his country’s economy is not connected to much of the world’s trade.
Mr. Bennett’s meeting with Mr. Putin took place “with the blessing of the US administration,” Mr. Bennett’s office said, noting that they were coordinating with Germany and France. After meeting with Mr. Putin, Mr. Bennett left Moscow for Berlin, where he met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the prime minister’s office said. Mr. Bennett was joined by Housing Minister Zeev Elkin, who was born in the now Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, and helped with the translation.
RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR: ACTUAL UPDATES
The nearly three-hour conversation with Mr. Putin focused on the security of Ukraine’s Jewish population and international negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, Mr. Bennett’s office said. On Saturday, new demands from Russia, a party to the nuclear talks, threatened to derail efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that Israel opposes.
Saturday flight to Moscow
Mr. Bennett flew to Moscow as Russian forces continued to meet fierce resistance from Ukrainian troops and an agreement to evacuate civilians from the two besieged cities fell apart. Russia’s invasion of its smaller neighbor last week resulted in civilian casualties and triggered the biggest displacement of people in Europe since World War II, with Ukrainians fleeing bloodshed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (left), Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (center) and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.
The meeting came about a week after Mr. Bennet, in a telephone conversation with Mr. Putin, offered to mediate between Russia and Ukraine. Mr. Putin said during the call that he was “ready for negotiations,” a senior Israeli official said.
Throughout the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Israel found itself between powerful opposing forces. Israel’s most important ally, the United States, and a pro-Western Ukraine with a large Jewish population have pushed Israel to take a firm stand on the side of the Ukrainians. At the same time, Mr. Bennett’s government is concerned that taking either side would jeopardize its relationship with Russia, which allows Israel to freely bomb Iranian positions in Syria.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Sochi, Russia, October 22, 2021. (Sputnik/Yevgeny Biyatov/Kremlin via Reuters)
Mr. Bennett has faced pressure from within the country to step up support for Ukraine. Israel has so far denied Ukraine’s request for weapons and other military equipment, such as helmets and protective vests, Ukrainian Ambassador Yevhen Korniychuk said earlier this week. But Israel condemned the Russian invasion and voted in favor of a UN resolution demanding an end to the offensive.
Mr. Bennett, an observant Jew, flew to Moscow during the Sabbath, emphasizing the urgency of his mission.
Israel tried to maintain good relations with the Kremlin and tried not to anger Moscow during the conflict. The start of Russia’s military intervention in Syria in 2015 turned it into an important player in the Middle East. Israel sees Russia’s presence there as a check on Islamist militant organizations like Hezbollah and Iran’s increasingly aggressive stance.
Mr. Putin’s stated goal of his invasion and beheading of the Ukrainian government is to denazify the country, despite Mr. Zelensky’s Jewish heritage. Since Russia’s strike earlier this week on a TV tower in Kiev’s Babyn Yar district, the site of one of the worst massacres of the Holocaust, international Jewish condemnation of the Russian invasion has intensified.
Negotiations since December
Mr. Bennett’s efforts follow a series of talks and letters exchanged between Washington, Moscow and European capitals since mid-December, when Russia demanded written assurances that NATO would not expand eastward and that NATO would withdraw troops and missiles from countries that had joined the alliance after 1997.
As Russia has amassed some 200,000 troops on the border with Ukraine, Germany’s Mr Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron have been among leading Europeans who have visited Moscow in recent weeks in an attempt to convince Mr Putin that his concerns about Ukraine’s security and NATO expansions can be addressed through dialogue.
Mr. Scholz sought to put forward some form of initiative based on the idea that Ukraine was unlikely to become a NATO member for years to come. Mr Macron suggested that some form of Ukrainian neutrality emerged from the talks.
In the end, the Kremlin did not give in to its initial demands, and Mr. Putin continued his invasion even as negotiations with the Europeans continued days before Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to meet with his French and American counterparts in Europe.
“Yes, there was duplicity. Yes, there was a deliberate choice to go to war when we were still negotiating peace,” Mr Macron said in late February after a meeting of EU leaders on the Ukraine crisis.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right) stands next to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on the terrace of the Federal Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, March 5, 2022. Bennett arrived in Berlin from Moscow after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. (Associated Press)
Both Messrs Macron and Scholz have spoken to Mr Putin in recent days, urging him to stop the violence.
For Mr. Bennett, the stakes are also high. In addition to Israel’s close relationship with Russia and Ukraine and its efforts not to anger Washington, which has been sitting on the sidelines of the crisis, Mr. Bennett’s visit comes at a critical juncture in the Vienna talks to revive the nuclear deal.
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Israel has long opposed the 2015 pact and is demanding its partners ensure that if the deal is reinstated, pressure is put on Iran, that it fully cooperates with international inspectors in Iran, and that Iran does not cheat.
Russia played a leading role in negotiations to restore the agreement between the US and Iran. On Saturday, however, Mr. Lavrov created a new obstacle to the deal by demanding assurances from Washington that heavy Western sanctions against Russia over its attack on Ukraine would not disrupt trade between Russia and Iran under the restored deal.
Write to Thomas Grove at [email protected] and Laurence Norman at [email protected]