President Mahmoud Abbas received, this evening, his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in the presidential palace in Bethlehem.
A formal reception was organized for President Putin, where a few Russian and Palestinian anthems of honor guard played, the two presidents reviewed the guard of honor, participated in the process of receiving the Russian President a crowd of Palestinian personalities, and the two sides held a bilateral and expanded meeting.
The Palestinian police and security services took steps to secure the visit throughout Thursday.
The President said: I welcome my dear friend, President Vladimir Putin, President of the Federal Republic of Russia, our personal friend and friend of the Palestinian people who never leaves an opportunity except to talk about the Palestinian issue or support and help it, and this is what we are accustomed to.
The President pointed out that "these visits, whether to Palestine or to Moscow, are important to us, in order to consult on all issues of concern to us, and on this occasion I thank President (Putin) for supporting the Palestinian people politically, economically, culturally, financially and securityly, and I thank him and appreciate the support And the work that he is doing in the ocean, because he cares about it, because this country is important to the Russian Federation, and for this reason we always see Russia, and it is always present and influential in all the issues that our environment lives in. "
Of course, there are issues in the region that we must discuss with the president, whether it is related to Israel´s announcement to annex the Palestinian territories, as well as the deal of the era that can be announced by Mr. Trump, and that we must consult on this matter, and we also have an issue related to the elections Palestinian, legislative and presidential, we must place the president´s image.
The President said I welcome you to Palestine, and, God willing, I will be with you to personally congratulate you shortly after the outbreak of fascism in May.
For his part, Putin said: "Our meetings have a periodic nature and we are in constant contact, and that the Russian-Palestinian relations are rooted and historical relations, and we support and develop relations in various fields, and you have touched each other, and we are ready to consolidate and strengthen this cooperation, and this relates to economic and humanitarian cooperation, With regard to the Palestinian-Israeli settlement, we understand your concern on this issue. "
He continued: "I am glad that I have this opportunity to consult with you about all these files, in addition to the files of developments in the situation in the region, and of course we look forward to your visit to Moscow in May during the celebrations of Victory Day."
The President hosted a dinner in honor of President Putin, in the presence of senior officials from both sides.
The meeting was attended by: Dr. Ziad Abu Amr, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Information Nabil Abu Rudeina, member of the Central Committee of the Fatah movement Hussein al-Sheikh, Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad al-Maliki, Commander of the General Intelligence Service Maj. The presidency is Intisar Abu Amara, the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Rola Ma’aya, and the Palestinian ambassador to Moscow, Abdul Hafeez Nawfal.
