Putin apologizes to Israeli prime minister for Lavrovʼs anti-Semitic remarks

Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologized to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for anti-Semitic remarks by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

This was announced by the Israeli government.

"The parties discussed the statements of Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov. The Prime Minister accepted President Putinʼs apology for Lavrovʼs remarks and thanked him for clarifying Presidentʼs attitude to the Jewish people and the memory of the Holocaust," the statement said.

Bennett also asked Putin to evacuate civilians from Azovstal in Mariupol. "Putin has promised to allow the evacuation of civilians, including the wounded, through the UN humanitarian corridor and the Red Cross," the statement said.

• In a recent interview with the Italian TV company Mediaset, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said that Adolf Hitler had Jewish blood and that the most ardent anti-Semites were usually Jews. This is how Lavrov explained President Volodymyr Zelenskyʼs argument about the absence of Nazism in Ukraine and the fact that he himself is of Jewish descent.