Putin hopes Palestinian sanctions will be lifted
Source: Reuters
(Adds more from Putin, paragraphs 16-17) By Oleg Shchedrov and Suleiman al-Khalidi AMMAN, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday he hoped economic sanctions against the Palestinian government would be lifted soon. Putin met Abbas in Jordan on the last leg of a Middle East tour of three U.S. allies that demonstrated Russia's regional ambitions and its differences with U.S. policies. "We hope that very soon conditions will be created for lifting the blockade. It will be lifted to allow you to take the next step towards full-scale settlement," Putin was heard telling Abbas at the start of their talks at Amman's airport. He also told Abbas that it would be "very useful" if an Israeli soldier captured in Gaza last June was freed. Abbas told Putin that "if there are no unpleasant surprises" the Hamas government would resign in the next two or three days and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas would then form a government with the rival Fatah faction. Abbas's Fatah and Hamas agreed at Saudi-sponsored talks in Mecca last week to form a unity government to end a year-old international economic embargo imposed on Haniyeh's government because of Hamas's refusal to recognise Israel. Russia is a member of the Middle East Quartet that includes the United Nations, the European Union and the United States. After talks with Jordan's King Abdullah earlier in the day, Putin pressed his plan for a regional conference to unblock the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. His proposal would engage Syria in the talks, a prospect likely to unsettle Washington. "We confirm our call for a broad international conference in the Middle East and we see the number of supporters of this proposal growing," Putin said in a statement he read to reporters as he stood alongside King Abdullah. "But it should be well prepared and the agenda (should) include the Palestinian and the Lebanese Syrian tracks." DIFFERENCES WITH U.S. Analysts say Moscow favours a broader and more comprehensive approach to solving problems in the Middle East over a U.S. drive to secure a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis before dealing with other regional problems. Putin arrived in the Middle East a day after accusing the United States, in a speech at a security conference in Munich, of trying to impose its will on the world by military force. King Abdullah said Russia -- which is on a drive to convert its growing economic power into diplomatic muscle around the world -- had an important role to play in the peace process. "President Putin and I agreed that negotiations towards the establishment of a viable, independent Palestinian state should be accelerated," he said. Putin has stressed the differences between Russian and U.S. policies on the Middle East throughout his tour, which earlier took in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. He told Russian reporters in Amman that he was paying more attention to coordination among energy producers and said ties with the three Arab countries had improved a lot since the end of the Cold War. "The situation has dramatically changed and it's high time to consolidate this new positive trend," he said of ties with the three countries. A statement released after Putin's meeting with King Abdullah focused on economic cooperation. It said they signed agreements on encouraging investment and two commercial deals: one between Russia's AvtoVAZ car maker and a Jordanian car maker, and another on the possible assembly in Jordan of Russian KA-226 general-purpose helicopters.
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