Ukraine�s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says his Russian counterpart�s recent remarks about Adolf Hitler and Jews demonstrate �the deeply-rooted antisemitism of the Russian elites.�

In an interview with an Italian news channel, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed that Ukraine could still have Nazi elements even if some figures, including President Volodymry Zelenskyy, were Jewish. �Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it doesn�t mean anything,� he said, according to an Italian translation.

�Lavrov couldn’t hide the deeply rooted antisemitism of the Russian elites,� Kuleba said in a tweet Monday. �His heinous remarks are offensive to President Zelenskyy, Ukraine, Israel, and the Jewish people. More broadly, they demonstrate that today�s Russia is full of hatred towards other nations.�

On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid excoriated Lavrov for his remarks, saying: �Foreign Minister Lavrov�s remarks are both an unforgivable and outrageous statement as well as a terrible historical error. Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust. The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse Jews themselves of antisemitism.�

(YWN Israel Desk � Jerusalem & AP)