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."
