From the Liveblog of
Sunday, March 6, 2022
Putin won’t end assault until Ukraine demilitarizes, source close to Bennett says
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Russian President Vladimir Putin is unwilling to end hostilities until Ukraine demilitarizes, sources involved in Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s Saturday meeting in Moscow tell Channel 12 news.
The network says Russia’s position is: “until dialogue, hostilities [will continue].”
Sources close to Bennett tell Channel 12 that the US encouraged him to meet Putin, and it seeks to take advantage of Israel’s good relations with both sides to end the fighting.
Russia has also conveyed via diplomatic channels that it is deliberately not directly targeting Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, even though Russia knows where he is, the network reports.
According to a separate report on Channel 13 news, Bennett has told ministers that he did not present an Israeli mediation plan, but rather is conveying messages between the sides.
The network, citing Bennett’s office, says the effort is being led by the prime minister and Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Bennett met Scholz yesterday in Berlin after his meeting with Putin.
According to Channel 13, Bennett is said to say Putin is “not conspiracy theorizing or irrational, or suffering from rage attacks.”
The Prime Minister’s Office declines to answer why there was no photo of the two on Saturday. The network says Bennett did not want a picture taken on the Jewish day of rest, but it speculates that it may be due to the optics of being photographed with the man who is carrying out the invasion of Ukraine.
The Times of Israel Community.