Sergey Lavrov said that Ukraine could still have Nazi elements

 Russian Ambassador Anatoly Viktorov was rebuked Monday in the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem over Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s comments saying Nazi leader Adolf Hitler “had Jewish blood” and that Jews are among the worst antisemites.

“Our message was made clear by the [Foreign Ministry’s] Eurasia director, Gary Koren,” an Israeli official said. “The two sides decided not to give any more details on the contents of the conversation.”

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid had said earlier that Viktorov would be summoned for “a not-so-easy talk.” According to the Foreign Ministry, Viktorov was called in for a “clarification conversation.”

Asked in an interview with an Italian news channel about Russian claims that it invaded Ukraine to “denazify” the country, Sergey Lavrov said that Ukraine could still have Nazi elements even if some figures, including the country’s president, were Jewish.

“So when they say, ‘How can Nazification exist if we’re Jewish,’ 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,” he said, speaking to the station in Russian, dubbed over by an Italian translation.