Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has invited the exiled leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, for talks in Moscow, a Hamas official has said.

Meshaal, who runs the group's politburo from Doha, met with Lavrov in the Qatari capital on Monday, where the offer was extended, a statement from a Hamas official in Gaza said. Hamas accepted the invitation but said that no date for the talks has been set. Russia has confirmed both Lavrov's meeting with the Hamas leader and the invitation for talks in Moscow, the Associated Press reported.

"The [Russian] foreign minister extended an invitation to the leadership of [Hamas] to visit Moscow and the movement accepted the invitation and the date will be determined later," the official said.