Russia is ready to provide additional aid to the Palestinian National Authority, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov said on Monday.

Speaking after a meeting between visiting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the president's residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Saltanov was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying the two leaders "discussed different forms of our contribution to the Palestinian National Authority. But concrete requests were not made."

The European Union (EU) and the United States have frozen aid to the Palestinian territories after Hamas, which is on the EU and US lists of terrorist organizations, took power in the Palestinian government. Russia sent US$10 million in emergency aid to the Palestinians earlier this month.

In addition to financial aid, Russia made other contributions to the Palestinians, Saltanov said. In particular, "we train diplomats and provide support in different forms in order to help Palestine form and strengthen state bodies of power," he added.

During talks with Abbas, Putin said Russia has always been "a dependable and consistent friend" of the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian leader thanked Putin for Russia's help and said Palestinian officials are "exerting efforts to extricate the Palestinian people from the current grave economic crisis."

(Xinhua News Agency May 16, 2006))