RUSSIA plunged deeper into the maelstrom of Middle Eastern politics yesterday, saying that it might sell arms to the Palestinians after talks with Hamas in Moscow next month.

The announcement by Yuri Baluyevsky, Russia’s Chief of General Staff, came as Hamas and Russian officials confirmed that they would meet in Moscow in early March.

General Baluyevsky’s offer will cause outrage in Israel, where the Kremlin’s planned talks with Hamas are already being likened to Tel Aviv hobnobbing with Chechen rebels.

It will cause consternation in Western capitals, which consider Hamas a terrorist organisation and have refused to deal with it unless it renounces violence and recognises Israel.

It could also strengthen the hand of Kremlin critics who say that Russia should be evicted from the G8 for, among other things, selling weapons to Iran and Syria.

On the surface, President Putin’s Middle East policy looks like diplomatic suicide.

But analysts say that the Kremlin is seizing an opportunity to reclaim the influence it once wielded in the Middle East, while playing a constructive role on the world stage. And behind the rhetoric, many Western and even some Israeli officials back the Kremlin’s initiatives.

“The strategy is to play an independent role in building a bridge between Hamas and the West,” said Vitaly Naumkin, a prominent Arabist and head of the Centre of Strategic and Political Studies. “I’m sure that despite the rhetoric, the West and the Israelis are happy with what Russia is doing.”

The Soviet Union was a key player in the Middle East during the Cold War, providing billions of dollars of weapons to regimes and political movements opposed to the United States, including Hamas.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Moscow lost its foothold in the region. It has been part of the Middle East quartet with the United Nations, the United States and the European Union since 2002, but has not played an active role. All that changed when Hamas won parliamentary elections last month.

Now Russia, as the only quartet member that does not consider Hamas a terrorist group, has a historical opportunity to act as the middleman. Mr Putin’s explanation was simple. “We need to recognise that Hamas has come to power as a result of a legitimate election and we need to respect the will of the Palestinian people,” he said last week. “To burn bridges would be the simplest action, but it lacks perspective.”

Russian officials say that they will press Hamas to recognise Israel and renounce violence, and are offering military hardware in return. The Palestinian Authority wants to buy two Mi17 transport helicopters and 50 armoured personnel carriers, according to Interfax.

Western officials are sceptical that Hamas will comply. “In an ideal world you’d see a 180-degree turn,” said one. “I don’t think anyone expects that.” But they admit that Russia still offers the best hope for a breakthrough.

The same can be said in relation to Iran, which is due to send a delegation to Moscow for talks on Monday.

Western officials have long criticised Russia for helping the Iranians to build the Bushehr nuclear plant and selling Tehran weapons, including $700 million (£400 million) of missiles. Now they are relying on Moscow to persuade the Iranians to accept its offer to enrich uranium for Iran’s nuclear energy programme on Russian territory.

Russia’s interests here are mainly commercial — its nuclear and arms industries will lose out on billions of dollars of business if sanctions are imposed on Iran.

Its overall strategy is the same, however: to curry favour in the Middle East at the same time as bolstering its status in the West.

“If the Kremlin succeeds, it will score points internationally as the country that saved the world from a nuclear crisis,” said Georgy Mirsky, a veteran Arabist and director of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations. “If it fails, it will just say it tried its damnedest.”