Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on the phone during a conversation with Agatha Bylkova from the Kurgan region, an 8-year-old child participating in a Christmas and New Year charity event, in Moscow, Russia, January 3, 2023 .
Mikhail Klimentyev | Sputnik | Via Reuters
A former Israeli prime minister who briefly mediated at the start of Russia’s war with Ukraine says he received a promise from the Russian president not to kill his Ukrainian counterpart.
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett emerged as an unlikely mediator in the first weeks of the war, becoming one of the few Western leaders to meet the President. Putin during the war during a quick trip to Moscow last March.
While Bennett’s efforts at reconciliation appear to have done little to end the bloodshed that continues to this day, his remarks, in an interview posted online at the end of on Saturday, shed light on behind-the-scenes diplomacy and the urgent efforts underway to try to get the conflict to a place quickly. concluded in its early days.
In the five-hour interview, which covered many other topics, Bennett said he asked Putin about whether he intended to kill the Ukrainian president. Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“I asked ‘what is this? Are you going to kill Zelenskyy?’ He said ‘I will not kill Zelenskyy.’ Then I told him ‘I must understand that you are promising me that you will not kill Zelenskyy.’ He said ‘I won’t kill Zelenskyy.'”
Bennett said he later phoned Zelenskyy to inform him of Putin’s commitment.
“‘Listen, I just finished a meeting, he’s not going to kill you.’ He asked, ‘are you sure?’ I said ‘100% he won’t kill you.'”
Bennett said that during his reconciliation, Putin reneged on his vow to seek disarmament of Ukraine and Zelenskyy promised not to join NATO.
There was no immediate response from the Kremlin, which had previously denied Ukraine’s claim that Russia intended to assassinate Zelenskyy.
Bennett, a largely untested leader who had been prime minister for just over six months when war broke out, suddenly embarked on international diplomacy after he placed Israel in a middle ground. between Russia and Ukraine. Israel views good relations with the Kremlin as strategic in the face of threats from Iran, but it aligns with Western nations and also seeks to show support for Ukraine.
An observant Jew and little known internationally, he flew to Moscow to meet Putin on the Jewish Sabbath, breaking his religious commitments and putting himself at the forefront of political events. global effort to prevent war.
But his attempts at reconciliation appeared unsuccessful and his time in power was short-lived. Bennett’s government, an ideologically diverse coalition that sent incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into short political exile, collapsed over the summer due to infighting. Bennett left politics and is now a regular citizen.
