A Hamas delegation is currently visiting Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during her daily press briefing on Thursday, without elaborating. Abu Marzouk, a member of the Palestinian Islamic Movement’s political group, is part of the group, RIA Novosti news agency, citing a Palestinian source, said.

Hamas is not considered a terrorist organization in Russia, and its representatives have already made two trips to Moscow in the past year. The first took place in September 2022, led by Ismail Haniyeh, head of the organization, who spoke with Sergey Lavrov; The second, in March, with his deputy Saleh al-Aruri.

Russia counts twenty nationals among the victims of the October 7 attack, and three are believed to be hostages in Gaza, but Moscow has taken a clearly anti-Israeli stance on the matter. Vladimir Putin waited more than a week to call Benjamin Netanyahu, and he compared the siege of Gaza to the siege of Leningrad, which left around 800,000 dead during World War II.

RIA Novosti news agency also writes that Hamas has a political office “Highly appreciate the position of Russia and China”In particular, these two countries veto the draft resolution submitted by the United States to the UN Security Council.

Maria Zakharova announced that Ali Bagheri Ghani, the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister responsible for nuclear negotiations, was also in the Russian capital and that he spoke with Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Kalozin.