DAMASCUS, December 13 (RIA Novosti) - Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad will visit Russia next week to discuss the Mideast settlement, regional security and bilateral relations, the country's vice president said Wednesday.

Farouk al-Sharaa told journalists in Damascus that President Bashar al-Assad's visit to Moscow will begin December 19.

Russia, one of the Quartet countries mediating the Middle East conflict, has consistently taken a softer line than Western powers on the Islamic group Hamas, which leads the Palestinian government, and the Lebanon-based pro-Syrian Islamic militant group Hezbollah, both of which are considered terrorist organizations by Israel and most Western countries.

Al-Sharaa said the Syrian leader's visit to Russia is part of Damascus' efforts to revitalize the Mideast peace process, which has stalled, he said, due to Israel's unwillingness to negotiate.

Israel and the United States, originally firmly opposed to negotiations with the Hamas government, recently conceded the possibility of contacts after Hamas said it would form a coalition government with the Fatah party of PNA President Mahmoud Abbas.