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Russia's contacts with Hamas will benefit global community - MP

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MOSCOW, February 10 (RIA Novosti) - A senior member of Russia's lower house of parliament said Friday that the country's efforts to maintain diplomacy with the radical Palestinian group Hamas were in the best interests of the global community.

Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the State Duma's international affairs committee, said that unlike in other Western countries, Russia's laws did not classify Hamas as a terrorist organization, thus providing the Mideast Quartet (Russia, the UN, the EU, and the U.S.) with a unique opportunity to maintain diplomatic contacts with this increasingly influential force following its victory in the Palestinian National Authority's January 25 election.

Kosachev's remarks came a day after President Vladimir Putin extended an invitation for Hamas officials to visit Moscow for talks.

No specific agreements have been reached to the effect yet, but the Russian leadership have made it clear they have the political will to open a diplomatic channel with Hamas, the lawmaker said.

"Whatever our attitude to Hamas, it has come to power through a diplomatic election, whose legitimacy has been called into question by no one. So the global community's efforts to isolate Hamas are actually about the isolation of the Palestinian people who have voted for this organization."

Earlier on Friday, the deputy political bureau chief of Hamas, Abu Marzuq, told the Arab satellite television channel Al-Jazeera that the organization's leadership would be happy to visit Moscow and expressed optimism about Russia's chances of filling the void that had emerged in Middle Eastern mediation due to the failure of U.S. policies in the region.

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