Israeli leader speaks to Putin day after visit

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has been working to mediate between Russia and Ukraine.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s prime minister spoke Sunday evening by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a day after his snap trip to Moscow to discuss the more than weeklong Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Naftali Bennett also spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whom he visited in Berlin on Saturday as well, and French President Emmanuel Macron, his office said.

Bennett has also spoken on the phone multiple times with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — most recently Sunday morning — as part of his shuttle diplomacy to mediate between Ukraine and Russia after more than a week of fighting.

Additionally, Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid will fly to Riga, Latvia, on Monday to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the Foreign Ministry said.

While Israel has condemned Russia’s invasion, it has also refrained from taking action that could anger Moscow, out of concern of jeopardizing military coordination in neighboring Syria. As Western sanctions mounted, Bennett was maintaining contact with both Putin and Zelenskyy, who reportedly asked Bennett to begin mediating between the sides. With his visit to Moscow, he became the only Western leader to meet the Russian president since the war erupted.

Israel is one of the few countries that has good working relations with both Russia and Ukraine. It has delivered 100 tons of humanitarian aid to the country and has announced it will be setting up a field hospital there. Ukraine is also home to some 200,000 Jews, hundreds of whom have already fled to Israel, with many more expected.