Asia

Home page

Asia

Russia’s Putin calls for renewal of Israeli-Palestinian peace process

26 June 2012 00:19 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday urged Israel and the Palestinians to renew their long- stalled peace talks, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"In light of events in the Middle East, it is important to resolve long-standing conflicts. We are calling on both parties to resume negotiations, which is the only way to solve the conflicts, " Putin said at a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

Noting that Israel is home to more than a million immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Putin said his government is concerned about their welfare and would like to see them living in peace and security.

For his part, Netanyahu said he believed that peace is both important to Israel and the foundation of regional stability.

"Mr. President, our neighborhood is small. Tomorrow you will meet (Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud) Abbas in Bethlehem, a five-minute drive from here. Ramallah is only 10 minutes away," Netanyahu said.

"The key to peace is complex, but in the end it is quite simple. Either Abbas comes here, or I’ll go to him, but we simply must begin talking," the prime minister said.

Netanyahu said that later in the evening, he and Putin will discuss how Moscow can assist Israel and the Palestinians in moving forward on the peace track "even in these hard and challenging times."

Earlier on Monday, Putin, on his second state visit to Israel as president, was greeted at Ben-Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and a military honor guard.

The Russian leader, accompanied by a large entourage of government officials, advisers and reporters, began his visit with the inauguration of a memorial in the coastal city of Netanya for the Soviet troops killed in the World War II, followed by a luncheon attended by Netanyahu, Lieberman, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror.

At the press conference, Putin said the visit has strengthened his conviction that Russia and Israel maintain "friendly ties, a firm basis on which the two countries can build a dialogue and partnership.