Russia welcomes Israel’s decision to free Palestinian prisoners

Russia welcomes Israel’s decision to free a group of Palestinian prisoners and hopes Palestinian-Israeli talks in Washington will end successfully, the Foreign Ministry said in its statement on Monday. “On July 28 the Israeli government approved the release of 104 Palestinian prisoners, who have been held in Israel’s prisons before the 1993 Oslo agreement was signed. They will be released in several stages after Palestinian-Israeli are resumed within days,” the ministry said. “According to media reports, Israeli authorities plan to create a special intergovernmental commission on the release of Palestinian prisoners,” the ministry said. Moscow “welcomes this step of the Israeli government,” the statement reads. “We hope that the above-mentioned decision will help create a favorable atmosphere for the soonest possible restart of substantial negotiating process on the basis of internationally recognized legal standards and in compliance with the agreement in principle, which has been announced by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Amman on July 19,” the ministry said.