Naftali Bennett on his Putin-Zelensky mediation

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Summary: At time 2:19:55-3:03:30, former Israeli PM Naftali Bennett discusses acting as mediator between Zelensky and Putin in the first weeks of the war.

He explains his military strategic reasons for trying to keep Israel neutral. He was most concerned about avoiding conflict in Syria.

He initiated contact with Putin at Zelensky's request. He also called Washington and offered to be their go-between with Putin.

By March 5, Putin agreed to renounce regime change and disarmament in Ukraine, and Zelensky agreed to renounce pursuing NATO membership. The French/Germans were ambivalent about the deal and the US/UK strongly opposed it, so the settlement fell through.

Thanks for the video. What is also interesting is the episode prior to 2:19:... when two month before the war Bennett met Putin in Sochi. Zelensky wanted to contact Putin and meet him possibly to prevent the upcoming events. But to do this he had to ask Bennett to pass a message. And how the mood of Putin drastically changed and for some time Putin talked about "Nazism" and refused to make any contact. This is interesting also because even two months before the war the Ukraine-Russia interactions ceased to exist to the level when the only messenger possible was a head of another state

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