MOSCOW, August 13. /TASS/. Palestine should be now expecting an invitation to attend the BRICS summit in Russia this fall in the ‘outreach’ format, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas told TASS on Tuesday following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Palestinian leader Abbas arrived in the Russian capital of Moscow for an official visit on August 12.
"We have discussed our vision regarding the possible development of events in the nearest future and what it could lead to during such complicated times," Abbas said in an interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman after the talks with Putin.
"We have certainly also discussed bilateral relations, because we enjoy a very long-standing strategic relationship with Russia," the Palestinian leader continued. "This is why we have discussed bilateral ties between Russia and Palestine, the relations that we always support solidly both during the personal meetings as well as at the level of telephone conversations. We have discussed perspectives for their further development."
"We have also discussed BRICS. We have reached a verbal agreement that Palestine would be invited [to attend this forum] in the ‘outreach’ format," Abbas stated.
According to the Palestinian leader, "a particular format of a meeting could be organized and it will be devoted exclusively to Palestine, so that all countries would voice their views on the developments that are taking place in this area."
"It will all be as relevant as possible, considering the fact that the [member] countries of this association [BRICS] are all friendly to Palestine," Abbas said.
Russia took over the BRICS’ year-long presidency on January 1, 2024. Russia’s presidency features more than 250 various events, with a BRICS summit in Kazan in October 2024 being the central one.
Since its inception in 2006, BRICS has experienced two phases of expansion. In 2011, South Africa joined the original group, which included Brazil, Russia, India, and China. On January 1, 2024, five new members officially entered BRICS, namely Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia.
The Palestinian leader also stressed that he managed to discuss with Russian President Putin "all issues that were of concern for the both parties."
"Our meeting lasted for almost two hours and you can imagine that there were no forbidden issues among us as we had discussed all issues concerning both parties," Abbas added.
Tensions flared up in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 240 hostages, including women, children and the elderly.
Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City.
In response, Israel launched a military operation in the Palestinian enclave to destroy Hamas military and political wings and free all hostages.
Another round of escalation in the Middle East followed the violent death of Hamas Political Bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and the elimination of Hezbollah top military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut. Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah held Israel responsible and asserted that the attacks will be met with retaliation.