Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Russian President Vladimir Putin during their first meeting in Sochi, October 22, 2021. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
Ukrainian ambassador to Israel praises “only democratic state that has excellent relations” with both Russia and Ukraine.
By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett suggested that Israel serve as mediator to broker an end to the Ukraine – Russia conflict during a phone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Sunday morning, according to the Kremlin.
Bennett’s proposal came after Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky requested that the Israeli premier host negotiations in Jerusalem, rather than staging talks in Belarus, which is widely seen as a non-neutral setting due to Russia’s influence in the country.
“We want the negotiations to take place in Jerusalem,” KAN News reported Zelensky as saying in a recent phone call with Bennett.
“We think that Israel is the country that could hold such negotiations in the middle of the war.”
The Kremlin did not elaborate on their response to the proposal.
“We have been talking to the Israelis for at least the last year about a possible intermediary role for Israel,” Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk told Reuters on Friday.
“Our leadership believes that Israel is the only democratic state that has excellent relations with both countries.”
An unnamed senior Israeli official told Hebrew-language media that during the call with Bennett, Putin had expressed willingness to negotiate.
Putin and Bennett recently met in October 2021 in Sochi, Russia, with Soviet-born Israeli Housing Minister Ze’ev Elkin serving as a translator.
The two leaders reportedly hit it off, with Putin phoning Bennett additional times after their meeting and giving him a tour of the presidential palace.
There was a “very special atmosphere in the room” and “good chemistry” between Bennett and Putin, Elkin recalled, adding that what was originally slated to be a two-hour meeting stretched into a five-hour visit.
Israel has been careful to toe the diplomatic line regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, issuing carefully worded statements expressing solidarity with the Ukrainian people but falling short of formally condemning Russia.
乌克兰驻以色列大使称赞“唯一与俄罗斯和乌克兰关系良好的民主国家”。
劳伦·马库斯，世界以色列新闻
据克里姆林宫称，总理纳夫塔利·贝内特在周日上午与俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京通电话时建议以色列充当调解人，以调解结束乌克兰与俄罗斯的冲突。
Bennett 的提议是在乌克兰总统 Volodmyr Zelensky 要求以色列总理在耶路撒冷主持谈判，而不是在白俄罗斯举行会谈之后提出的，由于俄罗斯在该国的影响，白俄罗斯被广泛视为非中立环境。
“我们希望谈判在耶路撒冷进行，”KAN News 报道泽伦斯基在最近与贝内特的电话中说。
“我们认为以色列是可以在战争中期举行此类谈判的国家。”
克里姆林宫没有详细说明他们对该提议的回应。
乌克兰驻以色列大使叶夫根·科尔尼丘克周五告诉路透社：“至少在去年，我们一直在与以色列人讨论以色列可能扮演的中间人角色。”
“我们的领导层认为，以色列是唯一与两国关系良好的民主国家。”
一位不愿透露姓名的以色列高级官员告诉希伯来语媒体，在与贝内特的通话中，普京表示愿意进行谈判。
普京和贝内特最近于 2021 年 10 月在俄罗斯索契会面，苏联出生的以色列住房部长泽耶夫·埃尔金 (Ze'ev Elkin) 担任翻译。
据报道，这两位领导人一拍即合，普京在会面后又给贝内特打了几次电话，并带他参观了总统府。
埃尔金回忆说，班尼特和普京之间“房间里有一种非常特殊的气氛”和“良好的化学反应”，并补充说，原本计划为两个小时的会面延长为五个小时的访问。
以色列在俄罗斯入侵乌克兰的问题上一直小心翼翼地遵守外交路线，发表措辞谨慎的声明，表达对乌克兰人民的声援，但没有正式谴责俄罗斯。