Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki handed over a letter from Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to Russian President Vladimir Putin during talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday, expressing gratitude, among other things, for providing the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine.
"I brought today a letter from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In it, the president expresses his gratitude for providing the vaccine and also touches on topics of mutual interest concerning the Middle East region, in particular the situation in Palestine and the situation in general," he said.
"There used to be annual meetings between our presidents, but because of the coronavirus epidemic, unfortunately, this is not possible now, so these meetings are an alternative. We believe it is necessary to maintain such a tradition so that Palestine can learn from Russia's experience and wisdom," al-Maliki stressed.
Palestine is interested in continuing to cooperate with Russia in supplying the coronavirus vaccine, Riyad al-Maliki added. "We were able to provide our people with 500,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccines. We hope to be able to provide more in the near future. We will cooperate with Russia in this area," he said.
Al-Maliki thanked Russia for helping Palestine fight the pandemic. "The Russian vaccine was the first vaccine to reach the Palestinian territories, and we believe this cooperation will continue," the Palestinian minister added.
Palestinian parliamentary elections
Riyad al-Maliki also briefed Sergey Lavrov on the reasons for postponing parliamentary elections in the country and reaffirmed the state's commitment to holding them in all Palestinian territories.
"We talked about the circumstances that forced the Palestinian government to postpone the elections, which were to be held on May 22. We explained clearly and in detail what compelled us to make this decision. We also reaffirm the Palestinian state's commitment to hold elections, and we reaffirm that these elections will take place in all the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem. This is our obligation to the international community and to the Palestinian people," the diplomat said.
Elections have not been held in the Palestinian territories since 2006, although formally both the presidential mandate and the powers of the Palestinian Legislative Council had already expired. Voting had been scheduled for the second half of May, but Mahmoud Abbas announced the postponement of general elections in Palestine until "the participation of East Jerusalem residents in the elections will be guaranteed." According to him, Israel refused to allow the election campaign for the governing bodies of Palestine in East Jerusalem, so the international community should put pressure on the Jewish state.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS