MOSCOW, July 31, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Russia on Wednesday "strongly condemned" the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Islamist Palestinian movement Hamas, warning it could trigger a fresh round of escalation in the Middle East.

Hamas on Wednesday said that Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli strike on his residence in the Iranian capital of Tehran.

"We believe that such actions are directed against attempts to restore peace in the region and could significantly destabilise an already tense situation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov had earlier called the attack a "completely unacceptable political assassination," in comments to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov welcomed Haniyeh to Moscow in September 2022 for discussions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Moscow for years sought warm relations with most major countries and forces in the Middle East, but since the Gaza war started with the Hamas October 7 strikes it has drifted towards Hamas and Iran, and away from Israel.

"There is no doubt that the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh will have an extremely negative impact on mediated contacts between Hamas and Israel," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The organisers of this political assassination were aware of the dangerous consequences for the entire region," it added.

The foreign ministry called on all sides to exercise restraint and avoid further steps "that could lead to a dramatic deterioration in the region's security and provoke a large-scale armed confrontation".