PA Embassy: Abbas will visit Moscow and expects to meet with Putin

The head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), will visit Moscow on January 21-22 and expects to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This was reported to TASS at the PA embassy in Moscow.

The last time Abbas visited Moscow was in May 2025. Then he was received by Putin.

Less than a week ago, 90-year-old Mahmoud Abbas underwent a medical examination at a hospital in Ramallah.

Mahmoud Abbas. Brief biographical information

Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) was born on March 26, 1935 in the village of Safad (Galilee – now the city of Safed), in 1948 he was deported with his family to Syria, where he became involved in the work of Arab nationalist organizations.

In 1965, he joined the Fatah party created by Yasser Arafat; repeatedly traveled to Qatar, where he organized support for Palestinian refugees; founded the 1st “central committee” of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Damascus, but later the PLO headquarters moved to Beirut, and Abbas left the political scene for some time, however, in the 60-70s he was considered the “main financier” of the PLO.

In the late 60s, Abbas received an academic degree from the Moscow Institute of Oriental Peoples, specializing in the “history of Zionism” (he was a graduate student of Evgeniy Primakov).

During the first intifada, he again became involved in “political activity”; in the early 90s he actively contributed to the signing of the Madrid Treaty; considered one of the main architects of the Norwegian Accords. In 1995, he received permission to enter Israel; in 1996 he was elected Secretary General of the PLO; Until recently, he lived “in two houses” – in Gaza and Ramallah (he spent a lot of time abroad).

In the late 90s he found himself at the center of several financial scandals. In September 2002, he was nominated by the Fatah party as a candidate for the post of PA prime minister, but then Arafat “blocked” the very idea of ​​the appearance of a “PA head of government.” In February 2003, Mahmoud Abbas was again nominated as a candidate for the post of prime minister, and the appointment took place in May.

His premiership lasted only 129 days, Abbas managed to reach an agreement on a temporary truce (udna) of Palestinian terrorist groups with Israel, the “truce” lasted less than a month, and no other successes were achieved by Abbas’s government. After his resignation, Abbas repeatedly stated that he would not return to “big politics.”

After Arafat’s death, he was re-elected Secretary General of the PLO and nominated as a “single candidate” from the Fatah party in the presidential elections. On January 9, 2005, he was elected head of the Palestinian National Authority and has held this post since then without being re-elected.

Abbas’s term in office had long expired, but due to divisions in the autonomy, neither presidential nor parliamentary elections were held, and the PLO extended Abu Mazen’s presidential term several times. At the same time, Abbas repeatedly threatened to resign.