Russia supports the initiative of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to hold an international conference on the Palestinian issue, Russia's First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy said on Tuesday, speaking at a meeting of the world organization's Security Council.
"We continue to interact with Palestinians and Israelis, interested international and regional players, including within the Middle East Quartet," he said. - "A month after Russian Prime Minister [Israel] Naftali Bennett's visit to Russia, [Russian President] Vladimir Putin met with Mahmoud Abbas in Sochi on November 23. As a matter of principle, we support the initiative of the President of Palestine to hold an international conference on the Palestinian issue".
Polyanskiy also reiterated Moscow's readiness to assist in overcoming the inter-Palestinian split, which should help advance the Middle East settlement process. "We are still ready to hold the next uniting meeting in Moscow, as soon as the leading Palestinian political forces and movements are ready to agree on common approaches and fix them in an appropriate document," he said. - "We are counting on cooperation with other interested parties, first of all with our friends in Egypt".
The Russian diplomat also said that Moscow would continue working on the Palestinian-Israeli settlement within the format of the Middle East Quartet. "Our initiatives to improve the effectiveness of this mediation mechanism are known and are still on the table," he added.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in his address to the 75th session of the UN General Assembly in September 2020, called on the Quartet of international mediators to renew their efforts and prepare "a credible peace conference with the participation of all affected parties."
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Zuma \ TASS
Based on materials from TASS