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Israel’s ex-PM says Putin refused to meet Zelensky back in 2021

Zelensky "asked very politely to tell Putin to call him, to meet with him," Bennett said

TEL AVIV, February 5. /TASS/. Israel’s former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin categorically refused to meet with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky back in 2021, citing to the neo-Nazi sentiment pandered to by the Ukrainian authorities.

Bennett took the office of Israeli prime minister in June 2021, succeeding Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been prime minister since 2009. In October 2021, Bennett paid his first visit to Russia and met with Putin at the latter’s Bocharov Ruchei residence in Sochi. The Israeli politician shared his recollections of this meeting during his five-hour interview, fragment of which were aired by Israel’s TV Channel 12 on Saturday evening. The full interview was released on Bennett’s YouTube channel on Sunday.

The interview was hosted by stand-up comedian and writer Hanoch Daum. Recalling the episode with Zelensky, the Israeli politician said that the Ukrainian leader had asked him to try to get in touch with Putin. "Two days prior to that, when my visit [to Russia] was announced, a man named Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, called me. They say he is a Jew and a comedian. Just imagine Hanoch Daum as a premier," Bennett said.

"God forbid!" the host exclaimed.

Zelensky "asked very politely to tell Putin to call him, to meet with him," Bennett said. "I was delaying to convey this request. We [with Putin] had been speaking for more than five hours <…> and then I said" ‘Look, Zelensky asked, and I am asking on his behalf, to meet."

At this point, according to Bennett, the tone of the conversation changed abruptly. "Until then, he [Putin] had been a nicest conversationalist and suddenly - an icy stare: ‘They are Nazis, they are instigating a war. I won’t meet him [Zelensky].’ He has an entire thesis, an entire theory about that. And it again brings us back to World War II, to Ukraine’s actions and, obviously, they collaborated with Germany back then," he said.

The Israeli politician noted that the change in the tone of the conversation with the Russia leader had been unexpected for him. "I was surprised by such a sudden change of mood. And then he thawed out again," Bennett added.

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