By International Desk, The CNN :
Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited Hamas and other Palestinian political groups to Moscow. A Russian official confirmed the matter on Friday (February 16). Russia has invited other Palestinian political parties, including Hamas and Fatah, to Moscow for talks on the Gaza war and other Middle East issues. This is what the AFP report stated.
Recent years have seen extensive diplomatic activity by Moscow to maintain good relations with Middle Eastern countries. Putin has been increasingly critical of Israel and its Western backers for the ongoing war in Gaza.
This time, the Russian president invited Hamas and other armed and political groups fighting directly against Israel to his country. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov was quoted as saying by the state news agency that Russia had invited about a dozen Palestinian political parties, including Hamas. At the end of this month, the ‘Inter-Palestinian Talks’ will start from February 29. Palestinian groups have been invited to join those talks.
Bogdanov, President Putin’s special envoy to the Middle East, said, “We have invited representatives of all Palestinian political parties based in Palestine and Syria, Lebanon and other countries in the region.”
According to reports, the invited parties include representatives of Hamas, Palestine Islamic Jihad, Fatah and the larger Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, in response to decades of unprecedented oppression and killings of the Palestinian people.
