'Unhinged' Russia claim that Israel supports neo-Nazis in Ukraine bashed by West

Mr Lavrov initially claimed that Adolf Hitler had Jewish origins, which was dismissed by Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid as an “unforgivable falsehood” and slammed the Russian Foreign Minister for minimising the horrors of the Holocaust.

However, in a statement on Tuesday, Mr Lavrov hit back, stating that Mr Lapid’s comments were “anti-historical” and “explain to a large extent why the current Israeli government supports the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv”.

Moscow has consistently used the excuse of Ukraine’s neo-Nazi government as justification for their invasion, despite the fact that President Zelensky is a Jew and his government was democratically elected.

They countered that “anti-Semitism in everyday life and in politics is not stopped and is on the contrary nurtured [in Ukraine]”.

Professor Michael McFaul tweeted that Russia’s comments were “shameful” and “Lavrov seems unhinged these days”.

Israel has tried to maintain good relations with both sides in the war, having expressed support for Ukraine but not enforced sanctions on Russia due to its power-broker status in neighbouring Syria, reported Reuters.

The Israeli government has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine, as Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has tried to act as a mediator between both sides.

Yet they seem to have swayed more towards supporting Ukraine, as Mr Lapid has accused Russia of committing war crimes in Zelensky’s country.

The Ukrainian President asked Israel in a speech at the end of March to “make a choice” in their support of Ukraine and supply them with weapons to help defeat Russia.

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Putin has sought to legitimise the Russian military presence in Ukraine as a fight against Nazism, although there is no evidence for these statements.

He referenced the presence of units such as the Azov battalion within the Ukrainian military as one of the reasons for launching his so-called “special military operation”.

Azov is a far-right voluntary military unit founded in 2014 to fight pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

Its early members were ultranationalists and were accused of harbouring neo-Nazi and white supremacy.

source: express.co.uk