Moscow is convinced that contact with Hamas must be maintained, as with any other side of the crisis. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters about this today. According to him, Russia will do everything possible to restore the unity of the Palestinians, the Mayak radio station reports.

From July 29 to 31, negotiations were held in the Kremlin between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Mahmoud Abbas. The Russian authorities declared their principled support for the head of the PNA as the legitimate leader of the Palestinian people.

During the negotiations, the Russian side announced that it intended to transfer 50 armored personnel carriers to Palestine to maintain law and order in the West Bank. This particular step speaks of the Kremlin's consistency in resolving the conflict between the official authorities of the PNA and the Hamas movement. This position of Moscow is supported by both parties to the conflict.

Currently, the Palestinian territories are divided into two camps: the forces of the moderate Fatah movement, which control territories in the West Bank, and the armed units of Hamas, which control the entire Gaza Strip.

Touching on another pressing international issue - the relationship between Russia and Great Britain, S. Lavrov said that the Russian Federation is ready to accept and study the materials of the British side on the “Lugovoi case” if it has convincing evidence. At the same time, he noted that the timing of resolving the diplomatic conflict between Moscow and London depends only on the British side.

Let us recall that Moscow refused to hand over to Great Britain Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoy, accused by the British authorities of the murder of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko. Russia's refusal caused a storm of indignation in the United Kingdom, as well as a crisis in bilateral relations.

London even announced its intention to impose sanctions against Moscow - in particular, we are talking about denying visas to Russian officials. In Russia, in turn, they point out that the extradition of Russian citizen A. Lugovoy is contrary to the Constitution of the country, and remind that Great Britain has been refusing for several years to extradite Boris Berezovsky and Akhmed Zakayev, against whom criminal cases have been opened in the Russian Federation.

S. Lavrov: Peace in Palestine is impossible without the participation of Hamas