Moscow welcomes the decision by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to extend the tenure of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas until elections can be held, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"Moscow is satisfied with this important decision... In this regard, we confirm once again our support for Mahmoud Abbas as the legitimate leader of the Palestinians," Andrei Nesterenko, a spokesman for the ministry, said.
Abbas's tenure expires on January 24 and he had called for presidential elections on January 25, but the radical Islamic group Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, said it would not allow the vote in the Palestinian enclave until a national reconciliation agreement was reached.
Abbas has been president of the Palestinian National Authority for five years.
"We believe that the forthcoming period [until the elections] must be used to intensify dialogue in the interests of restoring Palestinian unity," the spokesman said.
The PLO Central Council also reaffirmed that the "door is open" for Hamas to sign an Egyptian proposal for reconciliation with Fatah.
MOSCOW, December 17 (RIA Novosti)
