Putin hopes Palestinian sanctions will be lifted

AMMAN, Feb 13 (Reuters) Russian President Vladimir Putin told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today he hoped economic sanctions against the Palestinian government would be lifted soon.

Putin met Abbas in Jordan on the last leg of a Wasia tour of three US allies that demonstrated Russia's regional ambitions and its differences with US 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 Wasia 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 US Analysts say Moscow favours a broader and more omprehensive approach to solving problems in the Wasia over a US drive to first secure a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis before dealing with other regional problems.

Putin arrived in the Wasia a day after an address to an international security conference in Munich in which he accused the United States of trying to impose its will on the world by military force.

King Abdullah said Russia -- which is on a drive to convertits 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 Russia and US policies on the Wasia throughout his tour, which earlier took in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

''We are striving to create a fairer world order based on principles of equality,'' he said in Riyadh. ''Time has shown our views find support in Arab and other Muslim states.'' A statement released after Putin's meeting with Jordanian 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 carmaker, and another on the possible assembly in Jordan of the Russian KA-226 general-purpose helicopters.

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