Russia's foreign minister will head to the Middle East next week to help stem growing violence in the region and "degrading conditions" between Israel and the Palestinians, a Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday.
Sergei Lavrov will visit Syria and Israel, as well as the Palestinian territories, ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in a statement.
"The conditions in the Middle East region, particularly in Palestinian-Israeli relations, are degrading," he said.
During the March 19-21 visit, Lavrov will address "the problems with Palestinian-Israeli relations, ways out of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the suspension of violence, the resumption of negotiations aimed at the Palestinian-Israeli situation and other negotiating tracks, including the Syrian one," Kamynin said.
No further details were released.
A peace conference held last year in Annapolis, Maryland, gave new hope that Israel and the Palestinians could reach some sort of lasting accord. But since then, negotiations have sputtered amid continuing Israeli settlement construction and ongoing violence between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
Moscow has offered to host a follow-up meeting to the conference, but no dates or invitations have been released.
"It is obvious that the impulse that the peace process received from the international conference in Annapolis is in need of support," the ministry said.