Kremlin Calls On Palestinian Factions To Unify

January 19, 2025, marked the beginning of the first phase of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The future of the area looks precarious, especially amid statements by U.S. President Donald Trump, concerning a possible relocation of its residents. In turn, Moscow supports the creation of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. The existence of various Palestinian factions comes as an obvious obstacle to this goal. In February of 2025, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Bogdanov held several meetings with Palestinian forces, discussing a ceasefire and prompting an "inter-Palestinian reconciliation."

In February 2025, Russia's Special Presidential Representative for the Middle East and African Countries and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Bogdanov held several meetings with the representatives of various Palestinian forces. On February 3, Mikhail Bogdanov met with Musa Abu Marzouk, who is deputy chairman of the Hamas Politburo.[1] The next day he met with Mustafa Barghouti, who is Chairman of the Palestinian National Initiative movement,[2] and Ahmed Majdalani, who is Secretary General of the Palestinian People's Struggle Front and a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).[3]

Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov. (Source: Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Telegram channel).[4]

The common themes of the deputy minister's meetings were the realization of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip and the "prompt achievement of inter-Palestinian unity." Moscow continues to emphasize its principled position of support for the creation of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with its capital as East Jerusalem. It seems that the Kremlin believes that inter-Palestinian reconciliation on the political platform of the PLO is a necessary step toward this goal.[5] Thus, during the meeting with the chairman of Palestinian National Initiative, the Russian side "reaffirmed its readiness to continue to assist in bridging the inter-Palestinian disagreements on the political platform of the PLO." During the meeting with Marzouk, the Russian Foreign ministry also urged Hamas to work "toward a prompt achievement of inter-Palestinian unity on the political platform of the PLO."[6]

The Kremlin observes developments in the Middle East with concern. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, giving a speech at the at the XIV Middle East Conference of the "Valdai" International Discussion Club, expressed concern with growing U.S. influence in the region, and blamed the American administration for derailing the peace process in Gaza. "It's good that a truce was finally reached after more than a year of attempts in the Security Council to call for one. The Americans blocked everything, using their veto six times. Then they threw in their resolution, which was presented as one that solves all problems," argued the minister. According to Lavrov, though the new Trump administration was engaged in the negotiation process somewhat more actively, it was Egypt and Qatar that played a key role in reaching it. The foreign minister however argued that with the arrival of the new administration to the White House, the Syrian Golan Heights "can also be considered 'lost land' from the point of view of restoring justice..." In his speech, Sergei Lavrov warned against reckless steps in the region and called for inter-Palestinian unity. "The Middle East is not a playground... The key [to the solution] of all the numerous problems lies in the creation of a Palestinian state... The creation of a Palestinian state would lead to the normalization of Israel's relations with the entire Islamic world," stressed the Russian Foreign Minister.[7]