Moscow/Tskhinvali, Georgia - Russia has pulled troops out of all of its checkpoints inside Georgia around the breakaway region of South Ossetia, the head of the Russian peacekeeping forces said on Wednesday.

Moscow  - Japan scrambled four fighter jets on Wednesday to flank Russian bombers on a long-range patrol over the Sea of Japan, a Russian air force official said.

"Four Japanese air force F-15 fighters escorted the long-range aviation crews as they flew over the Sea of Japan," Lieutenant- Colonel Vladimir Drik was quoted by news agency Interfax as saying.

Russia ordered out an extra two Russian Su-27 fighters to backup their TU-22 bombers, known as Backfires by their NATO codenames, while they completed their training, Drik said.

Moscow - Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday said an arms embargo against Georgia would top Russia's agenda for peace talks set for Geneva on October 15.

"It is our conviction that an international embargo on sales of offensive weapons to Georgia is an urgent step," Lavrov was quoted by news agency Interfax as saying on Wednesday.

The Geneva peace conference was agreed under an EU-brokered ceasefire negotiated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev that ended Russia's five-day war with Georgia.

Moscow  - The MICEX index, Moscow's leading stock exchange, shut down until Friday while trading on the RTS was suspended indefinitely after shares plummeted at opening on Wednesday.

The MICEX's headlong dive, dropping more than 14 per cent in the first half-hour of trading, compounded record losses in the last two days as Russia faces its worst financial crisis since the national default of 1998.

Trading on the MICEX, where most of Russia's stocks are traded, was suspended by market watchdogs at 11:05 am (0805 GMT) for two- days.

Moscow - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with Russian Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday for sensitive talks on Iran's nuclear programme and Russian arms sales to country's in the Middle East.

Medvedev told journalist at the meeting that Russia was intent on expanding its role as one of the Quartet of international negotiators in Middle East peace talks, news agency Interfax reported.

Moscow has expressed ambitions to host a peace conference as a follow-up to the US-sponsored Annapolis conference last year.

Moscow - Russia's military said Tuesday that its pullout from the buffer zone around Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia would get underway on Wednesday.

In a report by the Interfax agency, Russian forces commanding General Marat Kulakhmetov said the withdrawal would be completed within 24 hours.

"During the first half of the day tomorrow we will start with the planned withdrawal of our peacekeeping soldiers from all six observation posts," he said.