MOSCOW, February 14, 2008 (WAFA) - Russia backs Washington's moves to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

Speaking at his final annual news conference in the Kremlin, Putin said Russia broadly supports what President George W. Bush has been doing to broker peace agreements in the region, even though there are elements of U.S. policy in the Mideast that Moscow does not fully approve of.

"I will not say that we agree on everything, we do have contradictions, but in any case we participated in the preparation for the international conference in the United States and I will make no secret of the fact that we did everything possible for our traditional partners, including Syria, to participate in the conference," Putin said.

Putin said that Russia believes it necessary to create all conditions so that Israel can feel completely secure, but at the same time Palestinians need to feel in control of their own territory.

"We are against the division of the Palestinian territories. It must clearly be a complete, respected and self-dependent state in the future."

Putin said Russia will continue working with all participants in the peace process and that Moscow is willing to host another international conference on the issue to help find a compromise.