Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal will hold consultations in the Russian Foreign Ministry early next week, ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said Thursday.

"The upcoming meetings will be held in the context of the political dialogue Russia is holding with influential forces of the Palestinian society to contribute to the resumption of Palestinian-Israeli talks on a well-known and generally recognized international legal basis," he said.

Palestinian National Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas visited Moscow last week.

Talks in Russia will focus on healing the intra-Palestinian rift. Nesterenko said Russia supports efforts being made, in particular, by Egypt, and will use any opportunities to contribute to achieving Palestinian unity.

Egypt plays the role of a mediator between the two factions, Hamas and Fatah, which until recently had no direct dialogue.

In early September 2009, Cairo put forward a new document to reconcile the two largest Palestinian factions, which split in June 2007 when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip and pushed the ruling Fatah movement out of the enclave. The six previous rounds of reconciliation talks resulted in failure.

Armed clashes between Fatah and Hamas came some 18 months after Hamas had won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006. Fatah has renounced violence, while Hamas refuses to recognize Israel and reserves the right to use violence in its struggle to create a Palestinian state.

Reconciliation talks resumed after Israel's assault on Gaza in December 2008, which saw some 1,300 Palestinians killed and 5,000 injured.

MOSCOW, February 4 (RIA Novosti)