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.

Moscow - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday summoned the head of the country's state banks to the Kremlin after Russia's leading indexes free fell in the sharpest decline since their inception.

The start of trading was delayed until the afternoon on Moscow's RTS and MICEX exchanges following a 19 per cent dive in stocks Monday.

The Kremlin has pledged over 150 billion dollars in loans to banks and small lenders to stave off its worst financial crisis since national debt default in 1998.

New York - The conflict involving Russian and Georgian troops over South Ossetia has remained unsettled, influencing the determination of the role of the UN military observer mission in the area, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday.

But he urged the council to extend the mandate of the small UN force until mid-February while discussion and arrangements would bring some clarity to the situation.