Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s meeting with the heads of the diplomatic missions of Arab countries and Türkiye, and the League of Arab States

On July 18, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attended a working lunch with the heads of the diplomatic missions of Lebanon, Palestine, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Türkiye, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE who are accredited in Moscow, as well as the League of Arab States’ representatives.  

There was an engaging discussion on the situation in the Middle East with a focus on the Middle East settlement process. Sergey Lavrov spoke about Russia’s principled approach to the issues of stabilising the situation with the Palestinian-Israeli confrontation and to what needs to be done to get a sustainable peace process off the ground. He reaffirmed Moscow’s invariable commitment to the internationally recognised legal framework for a Middle East settlement, including the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly, the Arab Peace Initiative, the Madrid Principles, which can also apply to Syria’s Golan Heights, and the two-state solution for Palestine and Israel to co-exist in peace and security. The Russian Foreign Minister also said that Russia consistently supported the creation of the State of Palestine within the borders that existed in 1967 and with East Jerusalem as its capital. 

In this context, Sergey Lavrov elaborated on Russia’s initiatives to hold a consultation meeting, with the participation of Russia, the Arab League and the regional countries which are actively involved in the Middle East settlement process, in a move to synchronise the efforts in this field, including the objective of achieving Palestinian national unity on the constructive political platform proposed by the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

The Russian Foreign Minister also noted that the vicious circle of violence in which the Palestinian-Israeli conflict had become bogged down in was largely the result of the policy that Washington had pursued for many years towards monopolising its mediation functions, as well as the lack of interest on its part in effective multilateral efforts to secure a Middle East settlement, including through the Quartet of International Mediators – Russia, the United States, the EU and the UN – whose efforts are being obstructed by the UN administration under contrived pretexts.

In this connection, as Sergey Lavrov noted, shifting the peacemaking efforts in the Middle East to the collective platform, with the regional countries playing the leading role, is becoming particularly important. We believe the processes taking place in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf area to improve the interstate relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and Syria and Türkiye, as well as Syria’s reinstatement in the Arab League are creating the necessary conditions for resolving the Palestinian issue, in keeping with the generally recognised international legal parameters for a Middle East settlement.