MOSCOW, February 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is entering talks with the radical Palestinian group Hamas without a view to mediating between the Palestinian National Authority and Israel, the country's special Mideast envoy said Friday.
"There is no need for mediators as some wrongly believe that Hamas has brought everything under its control," Alexander Kalugin said, referring to the organization's growing political influence following its landslide victory in a recent Palestinian election.
He said PNA Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas was still the official in charge of maintaining contact with Israel.
Russian President Vladimir Putin invited Hamas leaders for talks at a press conference in Spain earlier this month. The talks, due in Moscow in early March, were to have coincided with a visit by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, but Israel's top diplomat has now postponed the visit, citing technical reasons, a foreign ministry spokesman said.
Putin's invitation stunned Israel and Western nations, who designate Hamas as a terrorist organization.
"It is important that Hamas should transform itself into a political organization to resolve political issues with Israel," Kalugin said.
"We will be pushing Hamas toward responsible decisions," he said, explaining that Russia, as well as the West, wanted the militant Palestinian group to renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist.
Also on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the upcoming Moscow talks with Hamas aimed to engage the organization into the peace process in the Middle East and would be held in keeping with the framework of the Mideast Quartet of peace mediators (Russia, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union).
