The Palestinian movement Hamas is prepared to comply with all previously achieved agreements on the condition of reciprocity, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday after meeting with the visiting Hamas delegation.

All of the previously concluded agreements, specifically, the "road map plan" and the Arab peace initiative, including the pledge to recognize Israel, will be observed in exchange for the solution of the refugee problem, Lavrov cited the chief Palestinian delegate, Khaled Mashaal, as saying.

"This is the reason why both the Palestinians and the Israelis must stand by their commitments," Lavrov noted, according to the Itar-Tass news agency.

"We have let known to the Hamas delegates the concerted position of the Middle East settlement quartet. The gist of that position is that all of the previously achieved agreements must be complied with and Israel recognized as a sovereign country and a partner in negotiations," the foreign minister said.

He stated that Russia will have more contacts with the leadership of the Palestinian movement Hamas, when the Palestinian parliament gets down to work and a new government of the Palestinian Autonomy has been formed.

Moscow hopes that Hamas as the leading political force in the Palestinian parliament will "make its contribution to the comprehensive implementation of all agreements," he said.

Lavrov stressed that Russia respects the choice of the Palestinian people, and "our task is to ensure that statehood now acquires legality."

The Hamas delegation has arrived in Moscow for consultations at the invitation of President Vladimir Putin.

Mashaal told Lavrov Hamas "is interested in Russia playing a special role in the Palestinian issue," and could count on support from Russia as a partner in bilateral contacts, and as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a participant in the quartet of international mediators.

He declared that Hamas has set to itself the task of conducting a dialogue with all Palestinian forces and of cooperation with the autonomy's leader Mahmoud Abbas. "Our goal is to form a coalition government of skilled, competent people and to carry out reform," he said.

The Russian-Palestinian talks "will have a continuation," the chief delegate of the Palestinian movement Hamas said.