Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned Israel’s plan to invade Gaza as “unacceptable” on Friday, comparing it to the Nazi’s blockade of Leningrad during World War Two.
Putin called for mediation between Hamas and Israel, and Moscow’s official policy recommendation is to create a Palestinian state, which it considers as the “most reliable” solution to the ongoing conflict in Israel.
“Various scenarios are emerging, including the possibility of military and non-military measures being taken against the Gaza Strip comparable to the siege of Leningrad during World War II,” Putin said to the press on a visit to Kyrgyzstan. “We understand what that entails. In my opinion, this is unacceptable. More than two million people live there.”
“Casualties among civilians will be absolutely unacceptable.”
Vladimir Putin says any civilian casualties in an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza would be ‘absolutely unacceptable’. The UN says there have been over 9,000 civilian deaths in Ukraine since Russia invaded in February… pic.twitter.com/vWx3WwicOt
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) October 13, 2023
“Far from all of them support Hamas by the way, far from all,” he continued. “But all of them have to suffer, including women and children. Of course it’s hard for anyone to agree with this.”
Putin acknowledged that Hamas’ attack on Israel was “an attack unprecedented in its cruelty,” but said Israel’s escalation of tensions would lead to an “absolutely unacceptable” number of civilian casualties.
This comes as Israel gave a 24-hour notice for more than one million Palestinians to evacuate the northern part of the Gaza Strip ahead of its planned ground invasion of the territory. The UN urged Israel to reconsider the evacuation, warning of the humanitarian crisis that could ensue from displacing that number of people over such as short amount of time.
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Putin called for negotiations and offered Russia as a potential mediator. He said his country would work well as a power broker: “Russia can, by virtue of the fact that we have had good relations with Israel over the last 15 years.”
On Wednesday, Putin accused the United States of “inflaming” the Middle East by sending an aircraft carrier group to the region of the conflict, calling for “compromise solutions” to end the war. He said the outbreak of violence is an example of the failure of American policy in the Middle East.
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