Russia is ready to provide additional aid to the Palestinian
National Authority, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander
Saltanov said on Monday.
Speaking after a meeting between visiting Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the
president's residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Saltanov
was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying the two leaders
"discussed different forms of our contribution to the Palestinian
National Authority. But concrete requests were not made."
The European Union (EU) and the United States have frozen aid to
the Palestinian territories after Hamas, which is on the EU and US
lists of terrorist organizations, took power in the Palestinian
government. Russia sent US$10 million in emergency aid to the
Palestinians earlier this month.
In addition to financial aid, Russia made other contributions to
the Palestinians, Saltanov said. In particular, "we train diplomats
and provide support in different forms in order to help Palestine
form and strengthen state bodies of power," he added.
During talks with Abbas, Putin said Russia has always been "a
dependable and consistent friend" of the Palestinian people.
The Palestinian leader thanked Putin for Russia's help and said
Palestinian officials are "exerting efforts to extricate the
Palestinian people from the current grave economic crisis."
(Xinhua News Agency May 16, 2006))
