Abbas to meet Putin in Russia next week
Meeting comes between two rounds of talks between the Palestinian leader and US President Donald Trump
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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will travel to Russia next week to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian media reported.
The meeting will take place in Sochi on May 11, Palestinian envoy to Moscow Hafiz Nofal told the TASS news agency on Thursday.
The meeting will come just days after Abbas was hosted at the White House for a first meeting with US President Donald Trump and ahead of Trump’s historic first visit to the region as president later in the month.
Nofal told Tass that Abbas and Putin will discuss the results of the recent Arab League summit and Abbas’s meeting with Trump.
“The Russian and Palestinian leaders will also discuss bilateral relations and intra-Palestinian reconciliation,” Tass quoted Nofal as saying, referring to Abbas’s ongoing power struggle with the Hamas terror group that rules Gaza.
After an initial frosty start to relations between the Palestinians and Trump, Abbas received a warm welcome at the White House, and the US president expressed optimism in his ability to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
“We will get it done. We will be working so hard to get it done. It’s been a long time, but we will be working diligently, and I think there’s a very, very good chance,” Trump said during a joint press conference with Abbas.
The president, who has referred to a Mideast peace agreement as “the ultimate deal,” said he would be willing to play whatever role was needed to strike the coveted but elusive accord.
On Thursday, Trump announced that he would again meet with Abbas when he makes his first overseas visit later in May to Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Vatican.
The Times of Israel Community.