Russia will maintain its Embassy in tel Aviv as long as the Israelis and Palestinians do not agree on the status and future of Jerusalem. On Thursday, April 20, said the acting permanent representative of Russia to the UN, Peter Ilichev, reports RIA Novosti.
Speaking at a meeting of the UN security Council on the middle East, the diplomat reminded that on April 6, the Russian foreign Ministry issued an official statement “in support of the two-state solution to the middle East conflict with emphasis on the necessity of establishing a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders”.
“The capital of this state, we recognize East Jerusalem. At the same time the Russian leadership made a decision about recognition of West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” said Ilyichev.
Up to this point, Russia, like most countries, officially recognized capital of Israel is tel Aviv.
On 30 July 1980, Israel declared Jerusalem its indivisible capital. Three weeks later, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution according to which organization does not recognize Israel’s right to East Jerusalem and considers it occupied. Now all embassies are located in tel Aviv. In 1995, the US Congress decided to move the us diplomatic mission to Jerusalem, but it still has not been implemented yet.