Speaking at his final annual news conference in the Kremlin, Putin said Russia broadly supports what President George W. Bush has been doing to broker peace agreements in the region, even though there are elements of U.S. policy in the Mideast that Moscow does not fully approve of.
"I will not say that we agree on everything, we do have contradictions, but in any case we participated in the preparation for the international conference in the United States and I will make no secret of the fact that we did everything possible for our traditional partners, including Syria, to participate in the conference," Putin said.
The one-day summit, involving Arabs and Israelis, Mideast mediators, and international organizations, was held in Annapolis, Maryland, on November 27, 2007. The event was attended by 44 nations, including 12 Arab states. Iran, a leading Mideast power which does not recognize the state of Israel, was notably absent from the summit.
The Annapolis conference produced a declared commitment by the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to resume peace talks after a seven-year hiatus. However, momentum was stalled by Palestinian demands that Israel drop plans to build 307 new homes in an area near Jerusalem.
Putin said that in seeking a resolution of the Mideast conflict it is necessary to understand the politics of Islamist group Hamas.
"With all the acuteness of the issue we must nevertheless hear Hamas and understand what guides it."
Hamas seized control of Gaza from the pro-presidential Fatah movement in June 2007 after months of infighting. Last September, Israel declared Gaza, with a population of 1.5 million, an "enemy entity."
Since mid-January, the Israeli military has stepped up raids on Gaza border towns in response to militant rocket attacks on Israel.
Putin said that Russia believes it necessary to create all conditions so that Israel can feel completely secure, but at the same time Palestinians need to feel in control of their own territory.
"We are against the division of the Palestinian territories. It must clearly be a complete, respected and self-dependent state in the future."
Palestinians claim all of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, seized by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Israel wants to keep parts of East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Putin said Russia will continue working with all participants in the peace process and that Moscow is willing to host another international conference on the issue to help find a compromise.
"The uniqueness of Russia's position is that we have traditional trustworthy relations with the Arab world, particularly with Palestine, but at the same time a considerable number of immigrants from the former Soviet Union now live in Israel, which definitely creates an additional connection between Russia and Israel."
