MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. The United States and the European Union are seeking to divert attention of the international community from the crises in the Middle East and are blocking the work of the Middle East Quarter (Russia, the United States, the United Nations, and the European Union), Russian presidential envoy for the Middle East and African countries and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said in an interview with TASS.

"Regardless of whether the Quarter is working or not, Russian diplomacy continues active efforts to create conditions for the resumption of the process of Palestinian-Israeli political settlement. The Quarter’s activities have been frozen not by us. They are being blocked under various invented pretexts by the United States and the European Union, who are seeking to shift the focus of attention of the international community from the Middle Eastern and other regional crises," he noted.

He stressed that Moscow deems such an approach inadmissible, since it only aggravated problems. "The recent development on the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem, have vividly demonstrated it again," Bogdanov added.