MOSCOW, December 5. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when he visits the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on December 6, said Yury Ushakov, a Kremlin aide.
"The main thing now is to achieve a long-term ceasefire, because while these 'fragmented' ceasefires are also useful, we still would like a long-term ceasefire to be reached, a full exchange of prisoners and detainees to take place, and then it would be possible, in a calmer atmosphere, to start some real business in the context of the prospects for conflict settlement," the Kremlin official said. "Obviously, that’s the first thing that we will talk about now."
Ushakov made the comment when asked whether Russia would be interested in coming up with its own plan for Israeli-Palestinian settlement.
Putin will pay visits to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on December 6.
"It will be important to talk not only about bilateral affairs, but also to look at the development of the Middle East conflict," the Kremlin aide said about talks in the UAE.
According to Ushakov, discussion at the talks in Saudi Arabia will be given to "the situation in the Middle East, and directly in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict."
"Russia's principled position is well known," Ushakov said. "The countries we will be visiting are located directly in the region and sometimes sense better than we do how and where the situation is going, so an exchange of views on this conflict will be extremely useful for us as well."
He said that other issues that could come up during the talks in Saudi Arabia are the settlement of the situation in Syria, Yemen, and ensuring stability in the Persian Gulf zone.
"Russia attaches great importance to maintaining a political dialogue with the kingdom in the interests of preserving peace and security in the Middle East and North Africa," Ushakov said.