Hariri Holds Talks with Putin at Kremlin

Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri met Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin Palace in Moscow.

Hariri was accompanied by Interior Minister Nouhad Mashnouk, ex-MP Ghattas Khoury, Hariri's chief of staff Nader Hariri and his adviser for Russian affairs George Shaaban. On the Russian side, the meeting was attended by Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.

The one-hour talks involved a closed-door meeting between Hariri and Putin and the discussions tackled “the current situations in Lebanon and ex-PM Hariri's efforts to end the presidential void and elect a new president,” Hariri's office said.

Talks also addressed “the developments in the region, especially in Syria, and the efforts that are being exerted by Russia to resolve the Syrian crisis.”

The ex-PM had met Wednesday in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Interfax news agency quoted Hariri as saying Wednesday that Lebanon is ready for cooperation with Russia in the military and other fields.

He also said Syria should remain a unified state and Syrian President Bashar Assad cannot be part of the final solution to the Syrian crisis.

Al-Liwaa daily quoted a Russian diplomatic source as saying that the preparations for the previously unannounced visit to Russia began almost two weeks ago as part of Russian-U.S. cooperation to come up with a roadmap to end the presidential vacuum in Lebanon.

Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who was in Moscow last week, have agreed to contact the heads of prominent Lebanese parliamentary blocs, said the sources.

They have also agreed to create diplomatic contacts with Riyadh, Tehran, the Vatican and Paris to “end the reasons that have so far delayed the election of a president,” the sources told al-Liwaa.

Lebanon has been without a head of state since May 2014 when the term of President Michel Suleiman ended.

The presidential race is mainly confined to Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun and Marada leader MP Suleiman Franjieh. There is also centrist candidate MP Henri Helou.

However, not a single candidate is able to garner the needed votes to be elected president.

Sessions aimed at electing a head of state are being adjourned over lack of the required two-thirds quorum of the 128-member parliament.

Y.R.