Day: December 13, 2023

MOSCOW, Dec 11 (Reuters) – Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov demanded the release of hostages held in Gaza in telephone calls on Sunday and Monday with Hamas and other Palestinian factions, the Russian foreign ministry said.

The statement followed a series of meetings and calls between President Vladimir Putin and Middle East leaders in the past week.

The ministry said Bogdanov’s conversations highlighted the military and humanitarian situation in Gaza, where Russia “confirmed its principled position on the need to cease hostilities and urgently resolve all humanitarian problems that have arisen, including the release of hostages”.

The statement did not make clear whether Russia sought the release of all hostages seized by Hamas during its Oct. 7 rampage into southern Israel or just the release of any Russian nationals among them.

The minister spoke to senior figures in the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), the Palestinian Democratic Union, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Hamas.

Bogdanov stressed the need to restore Palestinian unity “in the framework of the PLO” and reaffirmed Moscow’s support for a Palestinian state to co-exist alongside Israel, the statement said.

Russia called on Sunday for an international monitoring mission to go to Gaza to assess the humanitarian situation.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow strongly condemned the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, but it was unacceptable for Israel to use that as justification for “the collective punishment of millions of Palestinian people with indiscriminate shelling”.

Analysts say the Gaza war has proved helpful to Russia by distracting the world’s attention from its war in Ukraine and making it harder for Kyiv to compete for Washington’s attention and military aid.

Putin has also used it as an opportunity to criticise the failings of U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East and raise Russia’s own profile as a regional player with ties to all the main actors.

Putin has stepped up his own contacts in the past week, though the aim of his latest diplomatic flurry is not yet clear.

He spoke to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyuhu on Sunday, having last week met the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iran.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Anshel Pfeffer

, Jerusalem |

Richard Spencer

, Tel Aviv |

Abbie Cheeseman

, Beirut

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Representative of Russia’s President for the Middle East Mikhail Bogdanov demanded immediate release of hostages held in Gaza. The statement was made in the telephone calls held on Sunday and Monday with Hamas and other Palestinian groups, stated Russian Foreign Ministry.

Earlier on Sunday, Russia’s FM Sergey Lavrov stated that Russia had immediately condemned Hamas’s terrorist attack on October 7. He said that the Kremlin only maintains relations with the group’s political wing.

HANDOUT / RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY / AFPRussian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran.

“Hamas carried out a terrorist attack on October 7, which we immediately condemned. Hamas has a political branch operating in Doha and we have a relationship with that political branch,” he said.

“We immediately contacted the people in Doha to discuss the fate of the people taken hostage,” added Lavrov. He then noted that this was said in regard of the Russian nationals as well as the citizens of the neighbouring countries.

Such a dramatic change in the public narrative comes as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin held an almost one-hour long telephone conversation on Sunday. The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said that Israel’s PM openly criticized Russian officials’ stance on the Israel-Hamas war and Moscow’s intensifying dialogue with Iran.

Earlier on Thursday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi paid a visit to Moscow to reportedly discuss with Putin bilateral cooperation as well as “regional and global issues, notably the Palestinian situation and ongoing developments in Gaza,” said Iran’s Irna news agency.

Hamas Telegram channelIran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani (L), Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Putin’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Mikhail Bogdanov (C), and Hamas head of international relations Mousa Abu Marzouk (R), at a trilateral meeting in Moscow .

Deputy FM Bogdanov was also among those who held talks with the Hamas delegation in Moscow back in October. Namely, he met with Hamas head of international relations Mousa Abu Marzouk joined by Iran’s Deputy FM Ali Bagheri Kani.

Read more stories like this >>

• Netanyahu criticizes ‘dangerous’ Russia-Iran cooperation directly to Putin >>

• After 8 weeks, UN Women condemns Hamas’s sexual violence on Oct.7 >>

• Israel’s UN envoy wears Holocaust-era symbol, rails against Iranian regime >>