Russia rebuffs Sharon over ME roadmap

Israeli officials said that Sharon met only cautious understanding but no compliance during talks that included a three-hour meeting Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.

Sharon asked Putin to drop the resolution, Israeli officials said, and to add the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and Palestinian movements to Russia's list of "terrorist" organisations.

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But the Israeli officials said that Putin and his Kremlin aides refused to offer an immediate response, sticking to a line that only "terror" organisations that operate in Russia will be recognised as such by Moscow.

The officials said there was also little compliance from Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, one of the Russian initiators of a proposed UN resolution supporting the roadmap whom Sharon met on Tuesday.

"The prime minister (Sharon) had a very frank discussion," with the Russian foreign minister, a senior Israeli official told AFP.

"We expressed once more our total opposition to the Russian proposal" that presents the Middle East roadmap before the United Nations.

The Israeli official said that Ivanov told Sharon "he will consider our (Israeli) stand, but he did not say that Russia was convinced."

In a last-minute push, Sharon was also due to meet Tuesday with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Kasyanov and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov before flying back to Jerusalem.

Israeli officials said that Sharon wanted Putin on Monday to concede that the peace roadmap -- which sees a Palestinian state formed within three years amid mutual concessions -- was now in doubt amid the continued violence, and that a new approach was needed for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

They sounded more hopeful on Monday than following Tuesday's talks with Ivanov, who is seen as a hawk in Russian foreign policy.

"We very clearly explained that Israel is opposed to the Russian proposal," an Israeli official said after Sharon-Putin talks Monday.

"It is my impression that the Russians understand our position better," the Israeli official added.

But defying those comments, there was no official confirmation from the Kremlin that Putin's position had changed, with the Kremlin press office refusing to comment on the Israeli official's statement when contacted by telephone.