Islamic Jihad leader meets Russian officials in Moscow

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov held talks with Ziad al-Nahhal, the deputy secretary-general of Palestine’s Islamic Jihad movement, in Moscow on Tuesday.

The two sides discussed the Palestine-Israel issue, including the situation in the Gaza Strip, according to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement released after the talks.

“The Russian side stressed the importance of achieving inter-Palestinian reconciliation within the framework of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as soon as possible,” the statement read.

The PLO is an umbrella group that includes most major Palestinian political factions, with the exception of Hamas and Islamic Jihad -- both of which follow a policy of armed resistance against Israel's decades-long occupation.

Russia views inter-Palestinian reconciliation as a “necessary step” towards the eventual establishment of an independent state of Palestine, according to the ministry statement.