The Kremlin has Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, a “peculiar kind of Jew”, when asked how he could be linked to the Moscow terror attack for which Islamic jihadists have claimed responsibility.
“Well, there is a peculiar kind of Jew over there,” Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said in response to a question about how the Ukrainian president, who is Jewish, might be implicated in the massacre at a concert venue outside Moscow.
“A Jew who in many ways shows sympathy and inclination to the nationalist spirit that has permeated the leadership of the Kyiv regime.”
When prompted, Mr Peskov declined to elaborate on his reasoning, citing an ongoing investigation into the concert hall attack.
Moscow has repeatedly tried to depict Mr Zelensky’s pro-Western government as neo-Nazis and used this as a pretext for its invasion of Ukraine.
Last June, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, called Mr Zelensky a “disgrace to the Jewish people”, a comment that drew a swift backlash from Jewish groups.
