JERUSALEM, July 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is willing to help both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resume peace talks as soon as possible, Moscow's special envoy to the Middle East said on Tuesday.
"We are ready to offer our services to both sides in order to resume peaceful negotiations and search for solutions," Alexander Saltanov, who is also a deputy foreign minister, said before a meeting with Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni.
Livni, a former foreign minister, said that the current "stagnation in the peace process is not in Israel's interests."
Saltanov is currently on a four-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories as part of a regional tour.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged the Palestinian leadership to return to the negotiating table without any preconditions. The call was rejected by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who said negotiations would only resume if Israel halted settlement construction in the West Bank.
