Russia and the Arab-Israeli conflict

After 2001, the government of Vladimir Putin intensified Russia's involvement in the region, supporting Iran's nuclear programs and forgiving Syria 73% of its $13 billion debt.^[1]

In his September 10, 2004 article Middle East Horizons of Russian Foreign Politics. Russia returns to one of the world's key regions, Mikhail Margelov, the Head of the Foreign Relations Council of the Russian Federation, wrote:

"President Putin called for the renewal of contacts with the countries with which Russia maintained long friendly relations and invested a lot of material and intellectual resources. The Arab countries constitute a large part of those counties. ... In general, the positions of Russia and the majority of Arab countries on key issues of development of the political situation in the region coincide."^[2]

[edit] Russian-Hamas talks, 2006

The Russia-Hamas talks of 2006 began on March 3, 2006, when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to discuss the future of the peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after Hamas became the majority party of the Palestinian National Authority Legislative Council, having won a majority of seats in the Palestinian elections. The group is listed as a terrorist organization by Australia, Canada, the European Union, Israel, and the United States, and is banned in Jordan.

On February 10, 2006, the president of Russia Vladimir Putin, stated that Russia does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization and officially invited them to Moscow, a move that confounded many politicians and analysts worldwide, including comparisons with Russian involvement in Chechnya whose militants such as Shamil Basayev Putin considers "terrorists".^[3]

The perspective of giving legitimacy to Hamas have angered some Israeli officials.^[4] A cabinet minister Meir Sheetrit accused Putin of "stabbing Israel in the back". After the interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert communicated with Putin, the Israeli position somewhat softened.^[5]

In an interview in Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta published on February 13, 2006, Mashal said that Hamas would temporarily stop armed struggle against Israel if it recognized the "1967 borders" and withdrew itself from all "Palestinian territories" (including the West Bank and East Jerusalem). He refused to acknowledge the Road map for peace, adopted by the Quartet in June 2003, "since nobody respects it". The Road map projected the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in 2005.

Following Hamas' victory in January 2006, the EU announced that future aid to the Palestinians is tied to "Three Principles" outlined by the international community:

Hamas must renounce violence
Hamas must recognize Israel's right to exist
Hamas must express clear support for the Middle East peace process, as outlined in the Oslo accords.

During the talks in March 2006, Lavrov called on the Hamas to comply with the earlier commitments signed by the PLO, and reiterated these three requirements but Hamas refused.^[6]

On March 7, Russia expressed hope that Hamas would consider supporting the Road map for peace and peace plan proposed by Saudi Arabia, but it did not materialize. Israeli spokesman stated: "They (Hamas) did not accept any of those principles ... therefore I don't know where they (Russia) draw their optimism from Hamas changing its ways."^[7]

President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian National Authority said that he would oppose the creation of a Palestinian state with temporary borders and further Israel's unilateral withdrawals.

The invitation and the talks have caused controversy wherein Russia's intentions in changing its views towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were questioned in the West.

[edit] List of international terror groups

Russian list of international terrorism published in the official daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta on July 28, 2006 contained seventeen terror groups. It included al-Qaeda, Taliban, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood, as well as groups linked to separatist militants in Chechnya and Islamic radicals in Central Asia but omitted both Hamas and Hezbollah. Yury Sapunov, the top official of Russian Federal Security Service in charge of fighting international terrorism, said that the list "Includes only those organizations which represent the greatest threat to the security of our country." ^[8]