MADRID (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he intended to invite to Moscow the leaders of the Islamic militant group Hamas, which won Palestinian elections last month.
A senior official of Hamas said any such invitation would be accepted.
Hamas, which defeated the mainstream Fatah movement, is expected to form a new Palestinian government soon. The United States and the European Union have called on the group, which refuses to recognize the Jewish state, to renounce violence and disarm militants.
"Maintaining our contacts with Hamas, we are ready in the near future to invite the Hamas authorities to Moscow to hold talks," Putin told a news conference in the Spanish capital Madrid where he was on a visit.
Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the United States, won a crushing victory over the long-dominant Palestinian Fatah group in a January 25 election.
"We haven't considered Hamas a terrorist organization. Today we must recognize that Hamas has reached power in Palestine as a result of legitimate elections and we must respect the choice of the Palestinian people," Putin said, through a Spanish interpreter.
"But ... we must also seek solutions, steps that are acceptable both for the political forces that are leading Palestine, for the international community and also for Israel," he said.
"I am deeply convinced that burning your bridges in politics is the simplest thing to do but it doesn't have much future. Based on this idea ... we haven't rushed to call any organization 'terrorist'," Putin said.
Putin Says Will Invite Hamas To Moscow
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