Prime Minister Naftali Bennett flew March 5 to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as the first Western leader to sit down with the Russian leader since the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. Bennett was accompanied by Ukrainian-born Housing Minister Zeev Elkin, who had accompanied former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on several trips to Moscow as an interpreter in talks with Putin.

Before departing to Moscow, Bennett spoke on the phone with French President Emmanuel Macron, who reportedly briefed him on his own conversations with Putin. An unnamed French official was quoted as saying, "They will stay in touch with the aim of obtaining a ceasefire, and this in coordination with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz."

No details were officially provided by the sides over the three-hour long encounter. Still, reports after the Bennett-Putin meeting said the two leaders discussed not only the Ukrainian crisis, but also the ongoing talks in Vienna between world powers, including Russia, and Iran about reviving a 2015 nuclear deal. Syrian media linked today the aerial attack earlier this morning near Damascus, which it attributes to Israel, to Bennett’s talks with Putin and with reports that these talks included also the issue of Israel’s maneuvering margins in Syrian skies.   

Bennett then continued to Berlin, where he met with Scholz. The two leaders met over dinner for an hour and a half late Saturday night, during which they reportedly discussed the war in Ukraine and Bennett’s meeting with Putin.