Berlin - The Federation of German Industries (BDI) said Monday it was opposed to sanctions being imposed on Russia over the conflict in Georgia and called for dialogue rather than confrontation.

The BDI issued its call as European Union (EU) leaders prepared to hold an extraordinary summit in Brussels to discuss the bloc's response to the crisis in the Southern Caucasus.

Proposals to put Russia under pressure through sanctions or to halt World Trade Organization (WTO) accession talks or partnership with the European Union (EU) "lead in the wrong direction," BDI President Juergen Thumann said.

"We would all lose if this were to happen," Thumann said.

Moscow - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday called for an international weapons embargo on Georgia until President Mikheil Saakashvili is ousted from office, the Interfax news agency reported.

"If the US and its allies have failed to learn lessons and were to give further (military) support to Saakashvili's regime, that would be a mistake of historic proportions," Lavrov said.

Lavrov said the international community should halt all arms shipments to Georgia until "the country is under a normal government."

US officials last week said Washington would move to give Georgia new military assistance in the wake of Tbilisi's defeat in last month's war with Russia over the Georgian separatist province Ossetia.

Paris - As the European Union prepared to hold an emergency summit on the Caucasus crisis Monday Georgia's ambassador to France called for Russia to be given a "last chance" before any possible sanctions.

"We are realistic," Mamuka Kudava told the daily Le Parisien. "One has to give the Russians a last chance, so that they are obligated to take heed of the six-point agreement decided with (EU council president Nicolas) Sarkozy on August 12."

The agreement calls for a ceasefire, Russian troop withdrawal and international talks over the security of Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

London, Sep. 1: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has warned Europe that his country’s energy reserves will flow to the Far East if European leaders seek to punish Moscow for invading Georgia.

Putin, who was speaking from Siberia, where he is inspecting work on a new pipeline that aims to speed up oil supply to Asia, said that Moscow would not succumb to threats from Europe.

Moscow, Sep. 1 : Russia on Sunday laid out guiding principles of its foreign policy that included a claim to a “privileged” sphere of influence in the world.

In an address to Russian Television viewers, President Dmitri Medvedev said from the Black Sea resort of Sochi, that his government would adhere to five principles.

The New York Times quoted him as saying that Russia would observe international law and rejected the United States dominance of world affairs in a “unipolar” world.

London, September 1 : Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been hailed as a hero after preventing a TV crew from being killed by a tiger at the Ussuri reserve in Siberia.

The former President visited the reserve to observe researchers monitored the tigers in the wild.

When he saw a trapped beast escape and charge towards a nearby camera crew, Putin quickly shot the beast and sedated it with a tranquillizer gun.