Israel's Bennett back home after meeting Russian president

By Zain Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett returned to Israel on Sunday after a short trip in which he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in an attempt to mediate a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine.

According to the Israeli official KAN news channel, Bennett met with Putin for three hours and discussed with him the situation in Ukraine.

Following the meeting, Bennett phoned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron and informed them of his talks with Putin, according to a statement by Bennett's office.

Bennett left Moscow and flew to Berlin where he met with Scholz for 90 minutes with the Ukrainian issue on the top of their agenda, the statement said.

Last week, Bennett proposed mediation efforts to solve the crisis between Moscow and Kyiv. Putin, however, rejected the offer.

Russia's war on Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, has been met by outrage from the international community with the EU, UK, and US, among others, implementing a range of economic sanctions on Moscow.

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar