Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visits Putin in Moscow

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is travelling to Moscow on Monday for a visit. Abbas will arrive on Monday evening and hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, said the Palestinian ambassador in Moscow, Abdel Hafis Nofal, according to the Tass news agency on Sunday. Before his departure on Wednesday, he will meet ambassadors from Arab states.

According to Nofal, the main topic of the talks with Putin will be “the situation in Gaza.” “We will talk about Russia’s role and what can be done. The situation here is very difficult and Russia is a country close to us,” he said. Before Abbas’ departure on Wednesday, there will also be a meeting with Arab ambassadors.

In November, a long-planned visit by the Palestinian president to Russia was postponed.

Mahmoud Abbas also visits Recep Tayyip Erdogan

A source close to Abbas’ cabinet confirmed his visit to Moscow to AFP and said Abbas would then travel to Turkey to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and address parliament in Ankara. Abbas is a leading politician in the moderate secular Fatah party, which rivals the Islamist Hamas.

Abbas’ trip comes just days after another Israeli attack on a school in Gaza City on Saturday, which sparked sharp international criticism. According to the Gaza Strip’s civil defense, 93 Palestinians, including children, were killed in the attack. Israel said it had killed 19 fighters from the Palestinian organizations Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the attack.

Russia said it was “deeply shocked” after the attack and said it regretted the “systematic” attacks on civilians in the Gaza Strip.

Moscow has long sought good relations with all major players in the Middle East, including Israel and the Palestinians. Since the start of the Gaza war, however, it has increasingly turned its attention to Iran and Hamas and has repeatedly criticized Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip.