Russia and the Iran–Israel proxy conflict deals with Russian foreign policy in the Middle East during the early 2000s, in light of the Iran–Israel proxy conflict. Background After 2001 the government of Vladimir Putin intensified Russia's involvement in the region, supporting Iran's nuclear programs and forgiving Syria 73% of its $13 billion debt. In his September 10, 2004 article Middle East Horizons of Russian Foreign Politics: Russia returns to one of the world's key regions, Mikhail Margelov, the Head of the Foreign Relations Council of the Russian Federation, wrote: President Putin called for the renewal of contacts with the countries with which Russia maintained long friendly relations and invested a lot of material and intellectual resources. The Arab countries constitute a large part of those counties. ... In general, the positions of Russia and the majority of Arab countries on key issues of development of the political situation in the region coincide." According to March 2007 brief entitled Russia's New Middle Eastern Policy: Back to Bismarck? by Ariel Cohen (Institute for Contemporary Affairs), Timeline Russia–Hamas talks, 2006 The Russia–Hamas talks of 2006 began on 3 March 2006, when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to discuss the future of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process after Hamas became the majority party of the Palestinian National Authority Legislative Council, having won a majority of seats in the Palestinian elections. Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization by Australia, Canada, the European Union, Israel, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and is banned in Jordan. On 10 February 2006 Spanish parliament member told Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Kommersant journalist Andrey Kolesnikov, that Putin does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization. The perspective of giving legitimacy to Hamas have angered some Israeli officials. A cabinet minister Meir Sheetrit accused Putin of "stabbing Israel in the back". After the interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert communicated with Putin, the Israeli position somewhat softened. In an interview in Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta published on 13 February 2006, Mashal said that Hamas would temporarily stop armed struggle against Israel if it recognized the "1967 borders" and withdrew itself from all "Palestinian territories" (including the West Bank and East Jerusalem). He refused to acknowledge the Road map for peace, adopted by the Quartet in June 2003, "since nobody respects it". The Road map projected the establishment of an independent Palestinian