Russian interactions with Palestinians seen as all talk, no action
Russia is showing its reach with Palestinian factions in advance of elections, but there is still no sign that Moscow is having an impact.
In late January and early February, a number of Palestinian leaders from different factions headed to Moscow to meet with officials from the Russian Foreign Ministry to discuss the upcoming Palestinian elections and internal reconciliation, in addition to bilateral relations. Yet despite the frequency of visits, results are still lacking.
On Feb. 4, a Hamas delegation led by the head of the movement’s international relations office, Mousa Abu Marzouk, visited Moscow and met with Mikhail Bogdanov, the Russian deputy foreign minister and special presidential envoy for the Middle East and Africa, and with Alexei Skoyerev, the deputy head of the Middle East Department in the Russian Foreign Ministry.
