Russia says it’s ready to promote direct Israeli-Palestinian contacts

MOSCOW, Russia — Russia is ready to promote direct contacts between Israel and the Palestinian leadership and working toward a high-level meeting of the Middle East Quartet mediating the Israel-Palestinian peace process, the Russian foreign minister said Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after meeting with Palestinian counterpart Riad al-Maliki, “We emphasized our readiness to facilitate direct dialogue between the Palestinians and Israelis in order to resolve all fundamental final-status issues.”

Lavrov said Russia considers it crucial to hold a ministerial-level meeting of the Quartet, which consists of Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations.

Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister al-Maliki said that the administration of US President Joe Biden “is again aware of its responsibility in the Quartet… We expect that this will create a new environment of trust.”

Al-Maliki said that during Donald Trump’s presidency, “the American administration showed that it openly leaned toward Israel. Based on this experience, we understand that we cannot return to that situation.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.