The leader of Palestinian Hamas group Ismail Haniyeh is likely to visit Moscow at the start of next year, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Friday, according to the RIA news agency.

Bogdanov said Moscow was also ready to organise a meeting between Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, which runs the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank.

Moscow's move comes after Palestinian officials declared that the U.S. can no longer play a mediator role in the Palestinian question after President Donald Trump's administration decided to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital in late 2017 and moved its embassy there in May 2018.

The decision, which violated international law and United Nations resolutions, has faced with widespread international criticism.

The latest announcement by Kremlin shows that Russia is willing to expand its role in the Middle East following its involvement in the Syrian Civil War beginning from 2015.