The Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Riyad Al-Maliki has lauded the Russian position regarding Israel’s illegal annexation plan.

This came after al-Maliki received a letter from his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Russia’s opposition to any unilateral move that might be taken by the Israeli government to apply Israeli sovereignty over, or in other words to annex, the Jordan Valley and the illegal colonial settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Russia stressed in the letter, which was delivered by Russian ambassador to Palestine Gocha Buachidze, that any such move would constitute a violation of the principals of international law and legitimacy.

In his letter, Lavrov said that “the implementation of this plan prevents the establishment of a geographically contiguous Palestinian state," and called for speeding up the revival of direct Palestinian-Israeli talks in order to reach mutually-agreed solutions to all final-status issues.

He affirmed his country’s principled position calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Al-Maliki stressed the need for the international community to act immediately to prevent Israel from taking the step of annexation, and urge the US to halt its support the plan.