Lavrov told Italian media on Sunday that the fact that Zelensky is Jewish does not mean Ukraine is free of Nazi elements, adding that Nazi leader Hitler would also have had Jewish blood. “Jews didn’t kill themselves during the Holocaust,” Lapid said. “The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse Jews themselves of anti-Semitism.”
Russia previously said that one of the goals of the “special military operation” in Ukraine is to “denazify” the neighboring country. In the interview, Lavrov accused the United States and Canada of training “neo-Nazi branches” that are part of the Ukrainian military. He seemed to be referring in particular to the Azov regiment, a section of the army that holds out at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol and has been associated with the far right in the past.