Russia says Mahmoud Abbas’s upcoming Moscow trip has been postponed

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas pose for a photo at the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, November 23, 2021. (Yevgeny Biyatov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas pose for a photo at the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, November 23, 2021. (Yevgeny Biyatov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

MOSCOW — Russia says that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has “postponed” a trip to Moscow that was planned for this month.

Russia — which has working relations with Israel, the PA and Hamas — has said several times that a visit by Abbas to Moscow was possible without previously giving a date.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov tells state media that a trip planned for November 15 had been moved.

“It has been postponed. On the request of the Palestinian side,” he says, cited by Russian news agencies.

Bogdanov says Palestinian officials had informed Moscow that “the situation now is difficult” and that Abbas “cannot leave the region.”

Bogdanov says Russia is “maintaining working contact (with the Palestinian side) constantly by phone,”

Russia has good relations with both Israel and Hamas, which it does not consider a terrorist organization.

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