London, Sept. 13: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov subjected his British counterpart David Miliband to a four-letter abuse tirade when the latter lectured the former about Moscow’s decision to invade Georgia.

Lavrov reportedly reacted with fury and repeatedly used the "F-word" when Miliband criticized him about last month’s aggression in South and North Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The Telegraph quoted an insider as saying that it was difficult to draft a readable note of the conversation.

Brussels - If European Union foreign ministers approve a ceasefire observation mission to Georgia as expected on Monday, they will be stepping into a diplomatic minefield.

Officials in Brussels say that if the bloc does not mandate its observers to cover the whole territory of Georgia, including, crucially, the rebel territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, it will appear to be accepting their independence before international peace talks have even begun.

But if the mandate does cover the breakaway regions, the EU will risk an outright rejection of its peace initiative from Russia - something which would cause it a massive loss of face.

Moscow - The ceasefire between Russia and Georgia has not calmed down the Caucasus. While inhabitants of Georgia's separatist enclaves Abkhazia and South Ossetia celebrate formal recognition by Russia as independent nations, hardly a day goes by without bloodshed in Russia's North Caucasus regions Ingushetia and Dagestan.

Moscow - An arms embargo against Georgia would top the Russian agenda at international peace talks in Geneva on October 15, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday.

"When deliberating there on how to prevent another aggression, the task of preventing Georgia's re-militarization will be paramount," Lavrov told a discussion group of Russian foreign policy experts, news agency Ria-Novosti reported.

He said the embargo should stand, "at least as long as (Georgian President) Saakashvili remains in power."

Riga - NATO's top official reassured Baltic nations of their security as members of the alliance Friday in the wake of Russia's war with Georgia.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - all former Soviet satellites - have been concerned for their security after watching Russian tanks roll into Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia.

"Nobody should doubt that this alliance ... given when necessary will do what is necessary," NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told journalists in the Latvian capital Riga after talks with Latvian President Valdis Zatlers and the three Baltic foreign ministers.

Moscow - Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Friday for talks, news agencies reported.

"We regularly talk and review our relations at the highest level," Lavrov said at a joint press conference in Moscow. "I mean our trade relations, questions concerning the completion of the nuclear power plant at Bushehr, and other issues."

Russia this year sent the first shipments of nuclear fuel to the plant it is building for Iran in Bushehr.