New York - An American Jewish Committee leadership delegation met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New York last night.

During the one-hour session, which followed meetings by Lavrov with President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington, the discussion focused primarily on the challenges posed by Iran's quest for nuclear weapons and the implications of the success of Hamas in the recent Palestinian elections.

David Harris, AJC's executive director, stressed the grave danger posed by both developments to prospects for peace and stability in the region and beyond.

Minister Lavrov emphasized his government's view that Iran must not be permitted to acquire nuclear weapons. He indicated the importance of ongoing consultation and coordination with the United States, the EU-3 (Britain, France and Germany) and China, and of thinking through carefully the possible consequences of any particular course of action. He noted that in his meeting earlier in the day in the Oval Office, President Bush had expressed appreciation to Russia for its efforts to find a workable solution to the crisis.

Lavrov described Russian-American ties as better than depicted in the news media, which, he felt, were emphasizing the negative rather than positive elements in the relationship.

On Hamas, the Minister noted that the decision to invite the group to Moscow was taken by Russian President Vladimir Putin. While there was no prior consultation with other members of the Quartet (the U.S., European Union and the UN), the Russian position in the talks last week, he said, faithfully reflected the Quartet's conditions for engaging Hamas-recognition of Israel's right to exist, abandonment of terrorism, and acceptance of prior Israeli-Palestinian agreements.

The Minister held out the hope that Hamas might eventually show flexibility in its stance and pointed to the upcoming Arab League Summit in Khartoum, Sudan, as one place to watch.

He supported the continued flow of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people, fearing that any cut-off might harm people and, at the same time, further polarizes the situation. He expressed a desire to see funds channeled through multinational and non-governmental agencies, with maximum transparency.

Harris said that there was a serious danger of conferring legitimacy on Hamas prior to its fulfillment of the three conditions stipulated by the Quartet. This would allow, he said, Hamas to "play off both sides against the middle," while avoiding the need for fundamental change. As Harris underlined, "When Hamas talks about Israeli occupation, they are referring not to the lands acquired by Israel in the 1967 war of self-defense, but to all of Israel."

The AJC delegation expressed appreciation for the Russian government's sponsorship of the UN International Holocaust Remembrance Day and for the Minister's strong words of condemnation of an anti-Semitic attack in a Moscow synagogue in January.

Both sides agreed to continue contact on these and other issues in the coming months.