MOSCOW. Jan 13 (Interfax) - Russia has proposed holding the next meeting of the Quartet on the Middle East, a group of international mediators comprised of Russia, the European Union, the United Nations, and the U.S., on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in the beginning of February, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"We are now discussing the possibility of holding the Quartet's meeting in the near future. We have suggested gathering on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in early February," Lavrov said at a news conference in Moscow on Thursday.
"At the same time, as we suggested earlier, we think it is very important that this meeting should involve representatives of the Arab League. Ideally, it should be attended by the Israelis and Palestinians," he said.
This is the ultimate goal, Lavrov said, stressing the importance of such a possible meeting with Arab League representatives.
"We hope that such a format will be agreed," he said.
Commenting on the negotiating process itself, Lavrov said that "it is not at its best, but I would not describe it as dead, either, if we disregard the episode that has continued for the past couple of months, but mean the Middle East process in general."
"There is no doubt that the Arab-Israeli settlement process is the key to stability in the Middle East. There is no doubt that the overwhelming majority of participants in this process perfectly realize this," the Russian minister said.
Lavrov said he hoped that "absolutely everyone will share this understanding and today's deadlock will be overcome."