Moscow/Tel Aviv  - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is due in Moscow on Monday for sensitive talks on Iran's nuclear programme and Russian arms sales to Syria, as Moscow seeks to keep a role in Middle East peace process despite the diplomatic fallout over its war with Georgia.

Olmert, who is making the visit despite his resignation two weeks ago amid corruption allegations, is set to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday before flying home, the Kremlin press service said.

Israel's Yediot Ahronot Ahronot daily said the Kremlin had invited Olmert for the sake of balance after having hosted Syrian President Bashar Assad and King Abdullah of Jordan.

Moscow/Bishkek  -

Moscow  - A Russian military chief was one of those killed in Friday's car-bomb blast in the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia, Interfax news agency reported Saturday, citing a military spokesman in Moscow.

Colonel Ivan Petrik, who was the commander of the Russian troops in South Ossetia, was fatally wounded in his office when the 20- kilogram bomb went off next to a Russian army base.

The spokesman was confirming a report in Saturday's Kommersant newspaper.

Seven Russian soldiers were killed in the attack and seven injured.

Moscow  - Six people were killed in an explosion in Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia on Friday, Russian news reports said.

Moscow/Kiev - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met Thursday with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko for talks on natural gas and other energy issues.

Putin and Tymoshenko held the discussions in a Russian government country mansion in the village of Novo-Ogarevo, outside Moscow.

The top issue for the two prime ministers was gas shipments between the two countries, particularly Russian pricing for gas sold to Ukraine, and Ukrainian pricing for gas shipped by Russia via Ukrainian pipelines to European consumers.

Moscow/Kiev  - Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday were at odds over the Caucasus in opening statements delivered at an international forum devoted to soothing rising tensions between Moscow and Western nations.

Merkel, in her opening remarks at the conference, called "The Petersburg Dialogue" called for increased understanding between Europe and the Kremlin, but at the same time criticized Medvedev and his government for Russia's hardline policies in Georgia.