Putin, Palestine's Abbas discuss situation in Russia, Middle East
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Russian President Vladimir Putin called his Palestinian counterpart and both parties discussed the situation in both occupied Palestina and Russia in the wake of Wagner's mutiny in the country.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos CEO Yuri Borisov during their meeting at the Krem in Moscow, Russia, June 30, 2023 (AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, held a phone call on Saturday to discuss the situation in occupied Palestine, as well as the situation in Russia after the latest events saw Wagner initiating an armed mutiny against the government, the Kremlin said Saturday.
"The Palestinian side has initiated a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas," the Kremlin's statement read.
"The Palestinian leader expressed his full support for the actions of the Russian leadership to protect the constitutional order and law during the June 24 events," it added.
On June 24, Wagner PMC chief Yevgeny Prigozhin announced on his Telegram channel storming the Rostov region and taking over the military headquarters in response to what he claims was a Russian attack on his troops earlier under the orders of the Defense Ministry, while the Ministry rejected his accusations.
Prigozhin called on the group's supporters inside the Russian Federation to join his movement and rebel against Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, as well as the Chief of Staff and commander of the military operations in Ukraine Army General Valery Gerasimov.
The Belarusian presidential office announced that Prigozhin accepted the proposal of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to stop the movement of Wagner fighters in Russia and take further steps to de-escalate the situation.
Regarding the armed mutiny attempt that took place in Russia, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valeri Zaluzhnyi, said Wagner's forces, led by Prigozhin, had already left the front line after they captured the eastern city of Bakhmut a month ago, so there was no noticeable change in the battlefield with the rebellion.
Prigozhin said Lukashenko offered ways in which Wagner could continue to operate and thereby ended the armed mutiny. "Lukashenko held out his hand and offered to find solutions for the continuation of the work of the Wagner private military company in a legal jurisdiction."
The Wagner chief said that he had sent two columns into Russia: one to the city of Rostov-on-Don, which occupied the local army headquarters, and the second one to Moscow. He called a halt to the mutiny when the column nearing Moscow "did reconnaissance of the area and it was obvious that at that moment a lot of blood will be shed," stating that no one was killed "on the ground" during the march but admitting casualties in the air.
The Kremlin added that Russia was in favor of a "just and sustainable" resolution to the Palestinian cause based on the existing international legal framework, the Kremlin said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a meeting of the UN Security Council discussing Palestine in April that the United States and the European Union are standing in the way of real peace in the Middle East with their "destructive measures" and are sidelining the resolution of the Palestinian issue in favor of pushing for an Arab-Israeli normalization.
The Foreign Minister also said that both powers are harming the Middle East Quartet, which is comprised of the United Nations, European Union, United States, and Russia and has the mandate to mediate ME peace talks and support Palestine's economic and institutional development.
"The United States and the European Union continue [with their] destructive attempts to replace real peace with some economic half-measures and to advance Arab Israeli normalization in circumvention of the fair resolution of the Palestinian issue and in circumvention of the Arab Peace Initiative. The Middle East quartet of international mediators has fallen victim to that. Washington is now claiming the role of a single sponsor of the Middle East settlement process," Lavrov said.
Read more: UNSC to vote on resolution calling on 'Israel' to stop settlements
Both Presidents underlined their support of the progressive development of traditionally friendly bilateral ties, agreeing to keep in touch after the call that also saw Putin wishing his counterpart and the Palestinian people a happy Eid Al-Adha.
