Deutsche Presse-Agentur
December 21, 2008 Sunday 12:29 PM EST
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas predicted "a bright future" for the semiautonomous Russian republic of Chechnya during a visit to the capital Grozny on Sunday.The region, which has gone through two wars since the 1990s, "had to pay a high price" for its future, Abbas said after meeting the Chechen leadership loyal to the Kremlin. The Palestinians and Chechens had a lot in common, he was quotedby Interfax news agency as saying. Abbas and Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov visited the grave ofKadyrov's father, former president Akhmad, who was killed in a bomb attack on a stadium in Grozny in May 2004.Kadyrov called the Palestinian president "a true Muslim." Abbas, who arrived in Chechnya during the night, said he followed developments in the republic very closely. He said he felt "at home" in the North Caucasus region as he arrived at Grozny airport in sub-zero temperatures and heavy snowfall. On Sunday evening, Abbas was due to fly on to Moscow, where he was scheduled to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during a three-day visit. Immediately ahead of Abbas' trip, Russia, which is one of the international quartet that is negotiating peace in the Middle East, accused the radical Islamist Palestinian Hamas movement of doing too little to maintain a ceasefire with Israel.
No comments:
Post a Comment