Naftali Bennett says Putin also dropped vow to seek disarmament of Ukraine and Zelenskiy agreed to give up on joining Nato
The former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett has said in an interview that Vladimir Putin made him a promise he would not try to killSpeaking on a podcast with the Israeli journalist Hanoch Daum, published on Sunday, Bennett said he received assurance from Putin that the Ukrainian president’s life would be safe during a secretive visit to the Russian capital last March aimed at mediation during the war’s early days.
Bennett’s comments come after claims to the BBC last week from the former British prime minister Boris Johnson, who said Putin had threatened him with a missile strike that would “only take a minute”. The Kremlin said Johnson was lying. Ultimately the Israeli leader’s efforts did little to stop the bloodshed in Ukraine, where the war is now approaching its first anniversary. He is now a private citizen, having stepped away from politics before November’s election, but Bennett’s comments shed light on early international backchannel efforts to de-escalate the situation.
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