Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Moscow on Monday to discuss the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Earlier this month Netanyahu said his country was ready to restart the talks, which came to a halt about a year ago, "in the coming weeks" and "without any preconditions."
Russia, along with the UN, the United States and European Union, comprises part of the Middle East Quartet of intermediaries for peace efforts. Moscow is expected to host the Quartet's ministerial meeting later this month.
Settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, both occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, has been the main obstacle to reviving the peace talks.
Netanyahu announced in late November 2009 that construction would be limited in the occupied West Bank, but not in East Jerusalem. He also said construction would resume in the future. The Palestinians have refused to return to the negotiations until the construction is completely halted.
The Russian and Israeli leaders might also discuss imposing more sanctions on Iran to make it scrap its controversial nuclear program.
The Israeli prime minister on Sunday called for the international community to impose 'crippling' sanctions against the Islamic Republic, which had earlier announced its plans to enrich uranium to 20%.
This is Netanyahu's second visit to Moscow. He paid a secret visit to the Russian capital last autumn.
MOSCOW, February 15 (RIA Novosti)
