Putin to Visit Lebanon on Bilateral Relations: OfficialRussian President Vladimir Putin has accepted an invitation from his Lebanese counterpart Emile Lahoud to visit Lebanon in the coming few months, the daily Middle East Reporter (MER) said on Tuesday.Quoted by the MER, Lebanese diplomatic sources said that during his planned Middle East tour in a couple of months, which will include Lebanon, Putin will reiterate Moscow's interest and role in the stalled Middle East peace process and boost bilateral relations with countries in the region. The sources said the date of the visit has not been confirmed as Russia will consult with the United States, a major peace broker in the Middle East, on the negotiations between Arab countries and Israel. They also said that Moscow supports Lebanon's demand for the repatriation of all Palestinian refugees in Lebanon in line with UN resolution 194. Some 360,000 Palestinian refugees live in the camps scattered around Lebanon. The Lebanese authorities have reiterated that Lebanon will not accommodate the refugees and they should go back to their homeland. An unidentified senior Russian official was quoted by MER as saying that Moscow supports Lebanon's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as its right to recover the disputed Shebaa Farms occupied by Israel since the Middle East war in 1967. Lebanon and Syria insist the 200-square kilometer farms belong to Lebanon. The U.N. and Israel regard it Syria's land and its fate should be resolved within the Syrian-Israeli peace talks. |
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