Palestinian movement Hamas' political leader Khaled Meshaal will travel to Moscow on Monday for talks with Russian officials, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday (Feb 22).

During the visit, "Russia plans to continue its efforts to help restore stability on the Palestinian territories and resolve disputes within the Palestinian Authority following the Mecca agreement between Fatah and Hamas," the ministry said in a statement.

The rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas agreed in the Saudi holy city of Mecca earlier this month to form a national unity government to replace the Hamas-led government in order to lift the siege on the Palestinians.

Russian officials will stress the need to "form a national unity government based on the well-known criteria of the Quartet and resume the Palestinian-Israeli political dialogue," the statement said.

Russia is a member of the Quartet of international mediators for peace in the Middle East. The other members are the United States, the United Nations and the European Union.

After a meeting on Wednesday in Berlin, the Quartet reiterated it would only "support a Palestinian government committed to nonviolence, recognition of Israel and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations, including the Roadmap." Hamas has so far refused to meet these demands.

It will be Meshaal's second trip to Russia. He led a Hamas delegation to Moscow for meetings with Russian officials in March 2006.

Editor: Wing