Special envoys of the Middle East quartet (Russia, the United States, UN and EU) will meet in Jerusalem Saturday.Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador at Large Alexander Kalugin will represent Russia.
“Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza is important,” Kalugin said before his trip to the Middle East. “We hail and support it but regard it as the beginning of the movement toward stable peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”
The meeting will focus on the situation in the region following the start of the implementation of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan.
The Russian envoy will meet with representatives of Israel and Palestine and visit the Gaza Strip, which is witnessing the pullout of Israeli settlements and military facilities.
Kalugin said that the pullout would be completed by the beginning of September and urged not to make pauses in the Middle East settlement after Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza.
“Other moves should follow,” he said. “Therefore, the quartet and other international intermediaries should consider these moves.”
More: en.rian.ru
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Russia supports the renewal of the mandate of Middle East Quartet special envoy James Wolfensohn, Foreign Ministry official spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said Friday.
"We support the proposal to extend the mandate of James Wolfensohn, which ends on December 31, [2005], as special envoy of the [Middle East] quartet for rehabilitating the Palestinian economy," he said.
Russia and the other quartet mediators (the United States, the UN, and the EU) on the whole approve of the efforts of Wolfensohn's team in the Middle East, Kamynin said.
James Wolfenson, the former head of the World Bank, has been the Middle East Quartet's special envoy
MOSCOW, August 19 (RIA Novosti) - Alexander Kalugin, the Russian foreign ministry's envoy to the Middle East settlement and ambassador-at-large, is heading to the Middle East Friday on the orders of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
"He will attend a meeting of envoys of the quartet of international intermediaries [Russia, the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States], which is to take place in Jerusalem August 20, and meet with Israelis and Palestinians," the foreign ministry's information and press department said.
Kalugin will also visit the Gaza Strip, where Israeli settlements and military infrastructure are being withdrawn.
Source: rian.ru
Russian envoy to attend Middle East 'quartet' meeting
MOSCOW. Dec 7 (Interfax) - The Russian foreign minister's envoy to the Middle East peace process Alexander Kalugin will travel to the region on December 8 to attend a meeting of representatives of the 'quartet' of international brokers and hold talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials.
"The trip will focus on the need to prevent any further escalation of tension in Palestinian-Israeli relations and help promote dialogue between the parties, primarily on security issues," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in its press release on Wednesday.
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A meeting between special representatives of the Middle East settlement quartet (Russia, the United States, the United Nations, and the European Union) is to take place in Jerusalem on August 20.
Alexander Kalugin, the Russian Foreign Ministry's special envoy, said the current situation in the region would be discussed at the meeting.
He said a meeting of the ministers of the quartet would be held during September's session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
"The parties will review the initial results of the [settlement] process and outline further steps there," the Russian diplomat said.
He said Russia praised Israel's withdrawal from
oreign Affairs Table Indyk on the Middle East
Four years of intifada terrorism have inured Israelis to this reality. For them, the appeal of the Gaza disengagement was its unilateral separatism, which in one move allowed Israelis to rid themselves of responsibility for 1.3 million Palestinians. If Hamas comes to rule over a failed, terrorist state in Gaza, Israelis will simply close the border crossings, which even now barely function, and rely on the border fence and military deterrence to protect themselves. The same logic underlies Mr. Sharon's break with Likud. He knows Israelis want to separate from West Bank Palestinians,
