Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of Israel traveled to Moscow together with his nationwide safety adviser and different officers on Saturday to satisfy on the Kremlin with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, in keeping with Israeli and Russian officers.
Interfax, a state-controlled information outlet in Russia, reported that the battle in Ukraine was on the agenda. “The scenario round Ukraine is being mentioned,” a Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, informed reporters.
Mr. Bennett’s workplace mentioned in a press release on Saturday night that the assembly with Mr. Putin lasted about three hours and came about “in coordination and with the blessing of the U.S. administration.” As well as, the assertion added, Mr. Bennett was working in coordination with Germany and France and was “in ongoing dialogue with Ukraine.”
There was no rapid details about any final result from the assembly. A spokeswoman for Mr. Bennett mentioned that he had spoken with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine after his assembly with Mr. Putin.
The Israeli authorities has tried to keep up good relations with each the Russian and Ukrainian leaders in the course of the present disaster, and Mr. Bennett was beforehand requested by Mr. Zelensky to mediate between the edges.
Mr. Bennett left Moscow on Saturday night on his strategy to Berlin to satisfy with the Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany. Mr. Scholz was in Israel for a brief go to this week and, in a gathering with Mr. Bennett, mentioned Israel’s potential function in mediation between Russia and Ukraine.
Mr. Bennett had spoken by telephone with Mr. Putin on Wednesday, hours after talking with Mr. Zelensky, the final of few rounds of telephone conversations between them.
In an indication of the urgency of the mission, Mr. Bennett, an observant Jew, left Israel on Saturday morning, in the course of the Sabbath, breaking the spiritual injunction towards journey. In response to Jewish spiritual legislation, the sanctity of the Sabbath is overridden by the precept of preserving human life.
Mr. Bennett was accompanied by Zeev Elkin, the Israeli housing minister, who assisted with translation, in keeping with the Israeli prime minster’s workplace. Mr. Elkin steadily acted in an identical capability over the previous decade in conferences between Mr. Bennett’s predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Mr. Putin. Mr. Elkin, who can be an observant Jew, was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in 1971, when it was a part of the Soviet Union, and emigrated to Israel in 1990.
The Israeli delegation additionally included the prime minister’s nationwide safety adviser, Eyal Hulata, his diplomatic adviser, Shimrit Meir, and his spokesman, Matan Sidi.
Mr. Bennett had are available in for criticism in current days, together with from Mr. Zelensky, for not siding extra stridently with Ukraine and for refraining from supplying it with any navy tools.
Israeli officers mentioned that Israel needed to preserve good relations with Russia so as to have the ability to proceed Israel’s navy marketing campaign towards Iranian and Hezbollah entrenchment in Syria, the place Russia maintains a major presence.
Saturday’s assembly comes after a number of requests from Mr. Zelensky, each to Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Bennett, to mediate between him and Mr. Putin. The final request was made in a phone dialog held on Feb. 25, throughout which Mr. Zelensky additionally requested navy tools. Whereas declining to ship defensive gear, Mr. Bennett agreed to attempt to mediate between the nations.
A number of rounds of phone conversations adopted between Mr. Bennett and Mr. Putin, between Mr. Bennett and Mr. Zelensky, and between officers from their groups. Israeli officers imagine the Israeli mediation had some impact in bringing Ukraine to comply with coming into into talks with Russia in Belarus.
Mr. Hulata, Israel’s nationwide safety adviser, has been updating the White Home Nationwide Safety Council on developments because the phone dialog with Mr. Zelensky.
Israeli officers mentioned that the assembly on the Kremlin additionally touched on the progress of the talks in Vienna for a return to a nuclear settlement with Iran, and that Mr. Bennett expressed Israel’s opposition to a return to the settlement.