As media reports have appeared recently of Israel's alleged rejection of the Russian offers of mediation services in terminating the present conflict around Gaza, we consider it necessary to declare the following.

From the very start of the crisis the Russian leadership has been taking energetic steps to facilitate an immediate end to the conflict, which has already taken many innocent lives. Taking this into account, the task of Russian diplomacy is to spur all parties to find an early exit from the present confrontation which would help prevent a recurrence of such tragic outbreaks of violence and restart advancement towards a comprehensive Arab-Israeli settlement, including the solution of the central issue of Palestine. One of the real results of this line was the adoption by the UN Security Council of resolution 1860, which Russian diplomats actively assisted in developing.

But it should be emphasized that no offers to act as a mediator were made by Russia, nor had been planned, in particular, during the recent trip to the region of Alexander Saltanov, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for the Middle East and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Accordingly, none of the partners contacted during the last few days could have accepted or turned them down, simply because such offers simply did not exist.

At the same time people in the region well know Russia's potential, given the ability it has to talk with all Middle East stakeholders. That is why considerable interest was shown in our assessments and information on the positions held by different regional parties, which we share at partners' request.

As to the Israeli media leaks about the supposedly rejected Russian mediation between Israel and Hamas, they must be attributed to internal circumstances in the country, associated with the stratagems of the political struggle ahead of parliamentary elections.

January 12, 2009