Putin says will invite Hamas to Moscow
Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he intended to invite to Moscow the leaders of the Islamic militant group Hamas, which won Palestinian elections last month.
A senior official of Hamas said any such invitation would be accepted.
Maintaining our contacts with Hamas, we are ready in the near future to invite the Hamas authorities to Moscow to hold talks,” Putin told a news conference in the Spanish capital Madrid where he was on a visit.
Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the United States, won a crushing victory over the long-dominant Palestinian Fatah group in a January 25 election.
“We haven’t considered Hamas a terrorist organization. Today we must recognize that Hamas has reached power in Palestine as a result of legitimate elections and we must respect the choice of the Palestinian people,” Putin said, through a Spanish interpreter.
“I am deeply convinced that burning your bridges in politics is the simplest thing to do but it doesn’t have much future. Based on this idea … we haven’t rushed to call any organization ‘terrorist’,” Putin said.
And this…………..
IsraelNN.com
In an interview with Spanish media, published today, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his objection to suspending aid to the Palestinian Authority, regardless of the Hamas terrorist organization’s position there. Putin is beginning a two-day state visit to Spain today.
Putin added that while Hamas is “considered as terrorist by the whole European community, [it] has assumed power in legitimate fashion.” Unlike the EU and the US, Russia does not classify Hamas as a terrorist group.”
Wild Thing’s comment……
Hey Putin can we talk? Now look, the Hamas may have been voted in, but that does not take away the fact. get that FACT, that the Hamas is a terrorist group. And guess what Putin, they want you dead too just like the rest of us.
Once a KGB neo-Stalinist bolshie, always a KGB neo-Stalinist bolshie!
Russia under Putin is a gathering disaster. The country has 115 deaths per 100 births, one of the lowest life expectancies in Europe (and it’s declining even further), declining public health, one of the poorest paid and equipped militaries in the world, and serious problems on its border with China.
Putin seems to want to maintain the pretense that Russia is a player in the world, even at the expense of cozying to Islamists who hate Russian guts. Their time is coming.
Rhod, I didn’t know all of that, thank you soooo much for the information. That is interestng because I just couldn’t imagine if a country is doing well, heck even if they aren’t, why they would ever deal with terrorists and especially saying “the Hamas is not a terrorist group”. Putin is a mess and so is his country.
Thank you for commenting.