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Russia welcomes Israel's decision to free Palestinian inmates

29 July 2013 17:31 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Russia on Monday welcomed the Israeli government's recent decision to free a large group of Palestinians, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"We hope that decision will facilitate the creation of an atmosphere beneficial for an early restart of substantive talks between Palestinians and Israelis," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

On Sunday, Israel decided to free 104 Palestinians imprisoned before 1993. The Israeli government will set up a special commission to deal with the release.

"Moscow welcomes that step of the Israel government," the ministry said.

The release of 104 veteran Palestinian prisoners during the upcoming negotiations, which will last at least nine months, met a demand by the Palestinians for the resumption of talks.

On July 28, the U.S. Department of State said Israel and Palestine had agreed to restart the peace talks on Monday in Washington.