It is necessary to cut the vicious circle of violence by removing the injustice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
In an interview with Russian news agency TASS on Thursday, Lavrov said that “it is necessary to cut the vicious circle of violence, to remove the injustice that several generations of Palestinians have been suffering from.”
“This is the only way to achieve stabilization in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict area and in the entire Middle Eastern region in general,” Lavrov added.
The Russian FM went on to accuse the United States of playing ‘behind-the-scenes diplomacy’.
“It is time for everyone to learn a lesson from what the US’ attempts to play behind-the-scenes diplomacy in the Middle East resulted in,” he said, adding that “It was precisely Washington’s course to monopolize mediation efforts and undermine the international legal settlement base that led to the current escalation in the conflict zone.”
Russia’s position, according to Lavrov, is “ based on the decisions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly” of establishing “an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with a capital in East Jerusalem”.
The minister acknowledged that “this is not going to be easy.” However, “the alternative to negotiations is the continued bloodshed,” Lavrov concluded.
Unlike the US, which has vetoed all UNSC resolutions calling for an end to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, Moscow has maintained a clear position demanding an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.
Lavrov says West to blame for 'escalation' in Ukraine and Palestine#Russia continues to underline the West's diminishing global dominance, accusing them of igniting conflicts across the world including in #Ukraine and #Palestine. https://t.co/XdeuhHwFfj
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) December 28, 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly called for a political solution to the war, calling for “joint efforts of the international community aimed at de-escalating the situation”.
“Generations of Palestinians were raised in an atmosphere of injustice towards their people,” Putin said on November 21, in televised comments at a virtual BRICS summit.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 21,320 Palestinians have been killed, and 55,603 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Palestinian and international estimates say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
(PC, TASS)
