The Russian Foreign Ministry doubled down Tuesday on controversial comments made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who claimed Nazi Dictator Adolf Hitler "had Jewish blood."
In a Telegram post titled "About Antisemitism," the ministry attempted to equate Israel's increasing support for Ukraine to conspiracy theories that Jews collaborated with Nazis during World War II.
The post continues the trend from the Kremlin of referring to the Ukrainian government as "Nazis" and makes the shocking claim Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Jewish heritage is a continuation of so-called "Jewish-Nazi collaboration."
"For some reason, the Western press (and some of our liberal press) are still arguing about whether there are neo-Nazis in Ukraine," the ministry wrote. "As one of the 'reinforced concrete' arguments, the Jewish origin of Volodymyr Zelenskyy is given. The argument is not only untenable but also crafty. History, unfortunately, is familiar with tragic examples of cooperation between Jews and the Nazis."
The increased rhetorical dispute continues the quick deterioration of relations between Russia and Israel, only months after the Jewish state sought to broker a cease-fire between the Kremlin and Ukraine, Yahoo News reported.
Israel finally offered Ukraine material support late last month, signaling a step away from its previous neutral status and causing the dispute with Russia to reach a boiling point, according to the outlet.