Russia wants Abbas-Olmert to negotiate directly

Moscow, Feb 21: Israel and the Palestinians should open direct negotiations on the political future of Palestine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said ahead of a big power meeting on the WAsia today.

''We (Russia) will actively support direct contacts between (Palestinian President) Mahmoud Abbas and Ehud Olmert,'' Lavrov said in an interview with the government daily Rossiskaya Gazeta.

''Contacts that would not deal solely with the opening of one checkpoint or another checkpoint, but aim to negotiate what the quartet has called the political horizon of Palestine.'' Foreign ministers from the European Union, the United States, the United Nations and Russia will meet as a quartet in Berlin to work out differences over how to deal with the new Palestinian unity government.

Lavrov said it was important to avoid mutual reproaches and minor disputes over incursions and shootings.

''These are petty provocations -- petty compared with the key task of forming a Palestinian state,'' Lavrov added.

Lavrov also said Russia wanted the quartet to back the coalition deal between Abbas and militant group Hamas and lift economic sanctions.

The United States advocates a more cautious approach of continued sanctions and isolating Hamas.

Reuters