Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday he could no longer accept the role of the United States as a mediator in talks with Israel because of Washington's behavior, the Interfax news agency reported.
"We state that from now on we refuse to cooperate in any form with the U.S. in its status of a mediator, as we stand against its actions," Abbas told Putin at the start of talks in Moscow.
Abbas was quoted as saying he wanted an expanded new mediation mechanism to replace the Middle East Quartet.
"For instance, 'the quartet' plus some other countries like the model used to achieve the deal on Iran," Abbas said, referring to international negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program.
Abbas and his allies were left furious in December when U.S. President Donald Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and set in motion the process of moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
"President Trump again surprised us. His decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and consider Jerusalem the capital of Israel was like a slap in our face," Abbas told reporters.
Putin, for his part, passed greetings from Trump to the visiting Palestinian leader, saying that he was just off the phone with the U.S. president.
"Naturally, we spoke about the Palestinian-Israeli settlement," he said. "I would like to convey to you his best wishes."
