MOSCOW. May 23 (Interfax) - Russia is interested in seeing all Palestinian forces join the pre-election race in the Palestinian territories, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, as an active member of the Quartet [on the Middle East], Russia is sincerely interested in having all Palestinian forces join the pre-election campaign on the ground of the principles that were laid out in the political charter of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Arab Peace Initiative," he said at a meeting with representatives from Palestinian organizations in Moscow on Monday.
If all Palestinian forces join the election campaign, then "this will allow the achievement of such results at the forthcoming elections that will be most adequate to the task of creating a Palestinian state living in peace and safety with all its neighbors," he said.
During their visit to Moscow, representatives from Palestinian organizations managed to agree upon an important declaration that will further facilitate the process of implementing the Cairo agreements, Lavrov said.
The Russian Institute of Oriental Studies and the Russian Foreign Ministry played an important role in the unification of the Palestinian political forces, Fatah representative Azzam al-Ahmad said.
The declaration agreed upon in Moscow reaffirmed the provisions of the Cairo agreements and emphasized the need for defending this document on the international arena, he said.