Jerusalem - Russia should not agree to a Syrian request to deploy missiles on its territory, since this could destabalise the Middle East, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Thursday.

"The deployment of long-range missiles is wrong," she told foreign correspondents in Jerusalem.

Livni was reacting to reports that Russia could possibly supply Syria with two types of missiles - S-300 surface-to-air missiles and Iskander E-ballistic missiles, which have a range of of 280 kilometres and can carry a a 480-kilogramme warhead.

Admitting that Russia has "its own interests" in the Middle East, Livni added however that "no one has an interest in destabilizing the region."

Syrian President Hafez Assad is slated to meet Russian President Dimitry Medvedev in Moscow on Thursday.

Livni also defended Israeli arms sales to Georgia, saying all exports to the Caucasas country had been checked by the Ministry of Defence.

And she called for tougher sanctions against Iran, saying those being applied to prevent Tehran from pursuing its nuclear programme, which she defined as an "international interest," were "not enough."

Turning to the subject of Israel's negotiations with the Palestinians, Livni reiterated her support for a two-state solution, which would see Israeli and Palestinian states existing side-by-side.

But, she added, the demand that Palestinian refugees who fled what is now Israeli territory in the 1948-49 war, and their descendents, be allowed to return to the homes they abandoned, negated the two-state solution.

"It undermines Israel's status as a Jewish state," she said, voicing the Israeli fear that allowing the refugees and their descendents back would lead to Israeli Jews being outnumbered by Muslims within a generation or two.

Livni, the front-runner to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in next month's contest to elect a new leader of the Kadima party, said she preferred a national unity government with opposition parties if she becomes prime minister.

Olmert, the focus of long-running corruption probes, has said he will step down once his Kadima party elects a new leader who forms a new government. (dpa)