Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Sunday launched a scathing attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling him a “pure Nazi” and a “traitor to the Jewish people.”
Lavrov's remarks were made in an interview with Krasnaya Zvezda, the official publication of Russia’s Ministry of Defense.
“Zelenskyy has turned 180 degrees from a man who came to power on slogans of peace, on slogans of ‘Leave us alone with the Russian language, it is our common language, our common culture’ (all this is on the internet) and in six months has turned into a pure Nazi and, as Russian President [Vladimir] Putin correctly said, into a traitor to the Jewish people,” Lavrov said in the interview.
Since the start of the Ukraine war, Russian leaders have several times made controversial comments related to Zelenskyy and his Judaism
Putin in 2023 claimed that Western powers had installed Zelenskyy as President of Ukraine in an attempt “to cover up the glorification of Nazism”.
In response, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said, “Vladimir Putin linked the Jewish origin of the President of Ukraine with the glorification of Nazism. Putin’s chronic fixation on the ethnic origin of the Ukrainian president is yet another manifestation of the deep-rooted antisemitism of the Russian elites.”
The ministry called on the international community to "strongly condemn Putin's antisemitic statements. In today's world, there should be no place for hatred based on ethnicity."
Previously, Putin lashed out at the Ukrainian President and claimed that "Zelenskyy is not even Jewish" when asked at a conference why he continues to call Zelenskyy a "Nazi".
"I have many Jewish friends since childhood. They say Zelenskyy is not a Jew – he is a disgrace to the Jewish people," the Russian President responded.
Zelenskyy later fired back at Putin, telling the BBC in an interview, "It's like he doesn't fully understand his words. Apologies, but it's like he is the second king of antisemitism after Hitler.”
"This is a president speaking. A civilized world cannot speak that way. But it was important for me to hear the reaction of the world and I am grateful for the support," he added.
Lavrov himself has come under fire, after he said that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler had Jewish blood.
In an interview with an Italian news channel, Lavrov referred to the fact that Zelenskyy is Jewish and said, “In my opinion, Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it doesn’t mean absolutely anything. For some time we have heard from the Jewish people that the biggest antisemites were Jewish.”
Zelenskyy said in response that Lavrov’s comments show that Moscow "has forgotten all the lessons of World War II or perhaps never learned them."
Moscow has repeatedly described Ukraine’s leadership as “neo-Nazis” to justify its military actions in the country. Putin has claimed that the ongoing war is an effort to “de-Nazify” Ukraine.