Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday met in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed with him the situation in the Middle East.
Abbas stressed the Palestinian Arab position which calls for an immediate ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
He also called on the international community to "force Israel to comply with the decisions of international institutions and international law" and to "help Palestine to be admitted to the United Nations as a state and promote the convening of an international peace conference."
During his visit to Moscow, Abbas also met with Arab ambassadors and reviewed the efforts being made to end the war in the Gaza Strip.
On Thursday, the PA chairman is scheduled to visit Turkey and deliver a speech to the parliament, at the invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Putin has in the past expressed a desire to host an Israeli-Palestinian Arab summit to revive the stalled peace talks between the sides, but nothing has materialized yet in this regard.
Putin and Abbas held a phone conversation in July last year, during which Putin affirmed Russia's “unwavering support for the Palestinian people in achieving their aspirations for freedom and independence by establishing an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”