Russian deputy foreign minister meets Israeli envoy to discuss Israel-Palestinian conflict

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin met Israeli ambassador to Moscow Alexander Ben Zvi on Friday and discussed the current situation around the Israel-Palestinian conflict, the Russian foreign ministry said.

"In this regard, the current activities of the UN Security Council and its possible actions and moves were substantively reviewed, focusing on the urgent need to ensure the protection of civilians in both Israel and Palestine, to prevent catastrophic humanitarian consequences and the spread of the crisis to other countries in the region," the ministry said.

Earlier on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Israel was replying to an attack of unprecedented cruelty by using cruel methods of its own.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, in a later commentary, said the Russian side at the meeting with the ambassador "stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire and the smooth operation of negotiating procedures between Palestinians and Israelis on the basis of U.N. resolutions..."

Asked by Russian website International Affairs if the government planned to evacuate people from Gaza, Zakharova said it was "critically important to solve without delay all issues linked to setting up a security corridor" for citizens of Russia and other ex-Soviet states.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Maxim Rodionov; Editing by Alex Richardson, Ron Popeski and Cynthia Osterman)