MOSCOW, Russia (AP) – Russia has pledged urgent financial assistance to the Hamas-led Palestinian government, the Foreign Ministry said.

In a telephone conversation Friday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow was willing to provide immediate aid.

“Abbas expressed great appreciation for Russia’s offer, confirmed by Lavrov, to offer urgent financial assistance in the near future to the Palestinian National Authority,” said a ministry statement released late Friday.

The Foreign Ministry did not specify the amount of Russian aid being offered, despite EU and US policies of withholding aid to the Hamas-led government.

The European Union this week froze hundreds of millions of dollars in annual direct budgetary aid to the Palestinian government, but has said it would continue to dispatch humanitarian aid through non-governmental organisations.

The United States and Canada have also halted government aid.