Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday apologized to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for remarks by his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who claimed that Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood”, according to a statement from Mr. Bennett. “The Prime Minister accepted President Putin’s apology for Lavrov’s remarks and thanked him for clarifying his attitude regarding the Jewish people and the memory of the Holocaust,” the statement said.
Vladimir Putin and Naftali Bennett discussed the Holocaust, amid controversy after Moscow accused Israel of supporting “neo-Nazis” in Ukraine, the Kremlin said.
During a telephone interview, Mr. Putin and Bennett notably discussed the importance of May 9, the date on which Russia celebrates the victory over Nazism and which makes it possible to “honor the memory of all the victims” of the Second World War, “including the victims of the Holocaust,” according to the Kremlin.