The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that it had informed Israeli Ambassador Simona Halperin of the “negative reaction” to her criticism of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian policy in the Middle East, Reuters and Agerpres reported.

The Israeli ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, a day after what Russian authorities described as “unacceptable comments” made by the ambassador in an interview with the Russian Kommersant newspaper published on Sunday.

In an interview, Israel’s ambassador criticized Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for downplaying the Holocaust and said that Russia is too friendly with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

Since the fall of last year, when the war in the Gaza Strip began after an unprecedented bloody attack by Hamas commandos on the communities of southern Israel, Hamas delegations visited Moscow twice, they were received by the Russian emissary in the Middle East, Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mykhailo Bogdanov.

Warm relations between Israel and Russia deteriorated after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Israel launched the offensive after Hamas-led Gaza militants killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in southern Israel on October 7.

Russia, which has drawn closer to Israel’s rival Iran since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, reaffirmed its support for a Palestinian state and criticized Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip.