MOSCOW, Jan 31 (AFP) - Russia pledged its "active" support Monday for visiting Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas amid growing signs of a revival in the long-dormant Middle East peace process.
Abbas said Moscow would play a decisive role in restarting the Israeli-Palestinian talks.
"You are the recognized leader of the Palestinian people and we will actively support you," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Abbas in front of reporters after the two held talks.
The Palestinian leader afterwards met with President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin, where he told the Russian president that there was now an emerging and rare opportunity for rekindling the Middle East peace process and that Moscow's support for the effort was vital.
"There is a historic chance to bring about peace in the region," Abbas told Putin.
"Russia's support in bilateral relations and in the framework of the quartet will be of decisive importance in establishing a universal and stable peace in the Middle East," the Palestinian leader said in remarks made in Arabic.
Putin said he wanted Abbas to succeed in his efforts to lay the necessary foundation for a resumption of talks with Israel and said Russia wanted to see an independent Palestinian state living beside Israel which, he stressed, had a basic right to safeguard its own security.
"We are ready to cooperate with you and the international community in an active way to resolve these issues," Putin said.
The two leaders signed a joint declaration after their talks stating that Russia supported the steps taken by Abbas "to bring an end to the armed confrontation between Israel and the Palestinians" and calling for a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian talks "as soon as possible."
Apart from any interest it may have in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process per se, Russia has been on the lookout for ways to resuscitate its "great power" status in the Middle East and elsewhere on the world stage, a goal that Abbas tacitly acknowledged.
The Palestinian leader, who once lived and studied in Russia, underscored that his decision to visit Moscow before going to the United States or Europe was deliberate and said the Palestinians "have placed high hopes in Russia advancing the peace process."
His visit to Moscow was testimony of Russia's key role in the Middle East, the Palestinian leader said.
Abbas' trip to Moscow came as Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's top advisors were to meet Monday in Washington with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to discuss prospects for an Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire.
Rice was scheduled to travel to the region February 6 and 7 and an Israeli official said a summit between Sharon and Abbas could take place the week beginning February 6, coinciding with Rice's trip.
The Palestinian leader's visit to Moscow also came as Israeli settlers and their supporters planned to form a human chain around the parliament in Jerusalem as part of mass protests against the government's planned pullout from the Gaza Strip.
Putin called the Israeli move an "important step" toward restarting the Middle East peace process and Lavrov said after meeting Abbas that the Palestinian leader was "determined" to implement reforms required under the roadmap, including within the Palestinian security services.
"He has concrete proposals for support of his acts where they concern the development of the security service," ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Lavrov as saying.
Abbas has secured an unofficial "cooling down" period from Palestinian militant leaders but wants Israel to reciprocate by ending military operations and starting to release Palestinian prisoners so that he can cement a full ceasefire.
01/31/2005 16:45 GMT - AFP