(AP/Washington Post) Vladimir Isachenkov - A Hamas delegation arrived in Moscow on Friday for three days of talks aimed at denting the militant Palestinian group's international isolation. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was scheduled to receive Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal. Russia says it will insist that Hamas renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist. However, "Hamas won't listen to Russia because Moscow has no real levers of influence over them," said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the foreign policy magazine Russia in Global Affairs. "This is not the time of the Soviet Union, when we had real clout in the region."
2006-03-03 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive