Moscow's And Beirut's Positions On Middle East Settlement Fully Coincide

The positions of Russia and Lebanon on Middle East settlement fully coincide, Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri of Lebanon told a press conference on Friday. "At our meeting with Vladimir Putin, we agreed with the need to establish a Palestinian state and to immediately withdraw Israeli troops from occupied Palestinian territories in keeping with decisions of the U.N. Security Council and the Madrid conference," he said. Hariri said he asked the Russian president to step up Russia's efforts to achieve settlement in the Middle East, together with other co-sponsors of the peace process. He added that Lebanon had earlier made several attempts to solve the Middle East problem with U.S. co-sponsorship, but they had not yielded positive results. Hariri has emphasised that Lebanon supports the peace settlement process in the region and is ready to participate in it along with other countries, such as Syria and Palestine. The Lebanese prime minister pointed out that Arab countries must insist on a greater role by Russia and the European Union in efforts to achieve a Middle East settlement.