Ex-Israeli PM: Putin promised not to kill Zelenskyy

Published February 5th, 2023 - 10:25 GMT
(From L) Bennett, Zelensky (C) and Putin (R)
Naftali Bennett (L) Volodymyr Zelensky (C), and Vladimir Putin (R) (AFP File Folder_

ALBAWABA - Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said he extracted a promise from Russian President Vladimir Putin that he wouldn't order the killing of his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Bennett said Sunday he extracted the promise when he visited Moscow last March, seeking to act as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine to stop the war, which broke out on Feb. 24. His comment, translated into Italian and Turkish, went viral on various social platforms.  

At the start of the war, which Moscow had termed as a military operation, Israel and other countries like Turkey, interceded to put an end to the Russian onslaught, but that fizzled out, judging from the subsequent course of the conflict.  

Bennett said shortly after the March 5, 2022 meeting, he conveyed the message to Zelenskyy that Putin doesn't intend to kill him. 

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