MOSCOW, March 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will maintain contacts with the Hamas movement, as it forms the government in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), the foreign minister said after bilateral negotiations in Moscow.
"We have agreed to continue contacts with the Hamas leadership, including after it has established the new lineup of the parliament and ... government," Lavrov said after the talks with a Hamas delegation.
However, the minister said the resumption of Middle East peace talks was still a long way away, but added that he hoped the Quartet of mediators in the process - Russia, the United States, the UN and the European Union - Arab nations and the international community in general would make another step forward to restart the negotiating process soon.
