MOSCOW, Feb. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- A high-ranking Russian official on Tuesday offered to ship military vehicles to the Palestinian territories to reinforce their security, but only with Israel's prior consent, Interfax news agency reported.

    "We could aid the Palestinian National Administration in the security sphere by, for example, shipping military vehicles for the Palestinian police," said Alexander Kalugin, Russian Foreign Ministry's expert on the Middle East peace process.

    However, the idea is still under discussion and Russia has not made a decision on it, Kalugin said.

    He noted that Russia had shipped military vehicles to Palestine in the 1990s, but only one of the 21 vehicles remained.

    Kalugin stressed that all those shipments have been coordinated with Israel and "if we choose to ship vehicles to Palestine this time, of course we will secure Israel's support first." Enditem