Russia to grant $10M in aid to Palestinian refugees

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia will grant $10 million in financial aid for Palestinian refugees, a Russian official said on Tuesday.

Konstantin Kosachev, who heads Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee, promised both financial and political support for Palestine in future at a meeting with Pierre Krahenbuhl, head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Moscow.

Kosachev also said the "unilateral decisions" of U.S. hinders finding a solution for Israeli-Palestinian conflict, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump’s unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and relocating the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem last year. He was also criticizing the U.S. refusal to provide financial aid to UNRWA.

UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly in 1949 with the aim of providing aid and protection to Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.