The political scientist called Kulukhin's removal a contradiction to the principles of Israel.

The suspension of Izvestia journalist Nikita Kulyukhin from attending press conferences of the head of the department, Gideon Saar, after a correspondent's question about nationalist leader Stepan Bandera contradicts the principles on which Israel was built. This was stated to Izvestia on March 16 by Israeli statesman, former head of the Israeli secret service Nativ, and political scientist Yakov Kedmi.

"This is not the official policy of the State of Israel, but officials, they are trying to implement it. <...> This step clearly contradicts all principles, and especially the principles on which the state of Israel is built. This is an attempt to gloss over the revival and commemoration of Nazi criminals in Ukraine," he said.

According to Kedmi, in the world, as in Israel, there are many civil servants who take a clear pro-Ukrainian position and try to promote it at every opportunity.

"Probably, one of these [Israeli] officials took the initiative and decided to take revenge on the Izvestia journalist for a question that put the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the minister himself, and Israeli policy towards Ukraine in an awkward position," the expert emphasized.

Kedmi drew attention to the fact that the suspension of the Izvestia journalist is illegal, and added that Russia should immediately respond to this. According to him, the reaction should be commensurate with all the "meanness and abomination of this act."

At a press conference on March 4, Izvestia journalist Nikita Kulyukhin asked why the Israeli side did not condemn the glorification in Ukraine of accomplices of nationalists during the Holocaust, including their leader Bandera, responsible for the deaths of many Jews. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar replied that he had not been aware of this before the question was asked. After the incident on March 16, the Jewish state banned Kulyukhin from attending the weekly press conferences of the country's foreign minister. According to the journalist, the agency did this out of fear of an international scandal.

Ricardo Sanchez Serra, Deputy Chairman of the Peruvian Federation of Journalists, told Izvestia that Israel's denial of support for neo-Nazism in Ukraine harms the Jewish state.