Day: December 13, 2023

Anshel Pfeffer

, Jerusalem |

Richard Spencer

, Tel Aviv |

Abbie Cheeseman

, Beirut

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Representative of Russia’s President for the Middle East Mikhail Bogdanov demanded immediate release of hostages held in Gaza. The statement was made in the telephone calls held on Sunday and Monday with Hamas and other Palestinian groups, stated Russian Foreign Ministry.

Earlier on Sunday, Russia’s FM Sergey Lavrov stated that Russia had immediately condemned Hamas’s terrorist attack on October 7. He said that the Kremlin only maintains relations with the group’s political wing.

HANDOUT / RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY / AFPRussian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran.

“Hamas carried out a terrorist attack on October 7, which we immediately condemned. Hamas has a political branch operating in Doha and we have a relationship with that political branch,” he said.

“We immediately contacted the people in Doha to discuss the fate of the people taken hostage,” added Lavrov. He then noted that this was said in regard of the Russian nationals as well as the citizens of the neighbouring countries.

Such a dramatic change in the public narrative comes as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin held an almost one-hour long telephone conversation on Sunday. The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said that Israel’s PM openly criticized Russian officials’ stance on the Israel-Hamas war and Moscow’s intensifying dialogue with Iran.

Earlier on Thursday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi paid a visit to Moscow to reportedly discuss with Putin bilateral cooperation as well as “regional and global issues, notably the Palestinian situation and ongoing developments in Gaza,” said Iran’s Irna news agency.

Hamas Telegram channelIran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani (L), Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Putin’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Mikhail Bogdanov (C), and Hamas head of international relations Mousa Abu Marzouk (R), at a trilateral meeting in Moscow .

Deputy FM Bogdanov was also among those who held talks with the Hamas delegation in Moscow back in October. Namely, he met with Hamas head of international relations Mousa Abu Marzouk joined by Iran’s Deputy FM Ali Bagheri Kani.

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