Russia welcomes Israel-Lebanon ceasefire

Russia welcomes the 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon and hopes the parties will avoid a recurrence of hostilities, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

Speaking at a briefing, Peskov said the duration of the ceasefire is “hardly possible to guess.”

“We certainly welcome the ceasefire decision,” state news agency Tass quoted him as saying. “And we hope that during these designated days, we will indeed be able to reach agreements that will prevent a recurrence of military clashes in the future.”

Israel launched a war on Lebanon in October 2023, and a ceasefire was declared in November the following year, but Israel continued to violate it daily before expanding its offensive on March 2. More than 2,196 people have been killed and 7,185 wounded during 45 days of Israeli attacks on Lebanon, with over 1 million displaced, according to official figures.

Peskov also stated that Moscow is ready to accept Iranian enriched uranium, but the offer is currently not in demand by the United States.

“At this stage, this proposal is not on the negotiating table, as far as we understand,” he said. “The Russian side is open to this, as President (of Russia) Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated. But this offer is currently not in demand by the United States.”

The tensions in the Middle East escalated when the US and Israel started a joint military operation against Iran on Feb. 28, killing more than 3,300 people. A two-week Washington-Tehran ceasefire was mediated by Pakistan.

The US and Iran held rare direct talks in Pakistan on April 11-12 aimed at ending their conflict, but the talks ended without any agreement. The removal of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile is one of Washington's core demands in negotiations to permanently end the war. Much of the material, estimated at around 450 kilograms enriched to 60%, lies buried under nuclear sites already struck during the US-Israeli offensive.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Iran will hand over the stockpile voluntarily, or the US will take it by other means.