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.

Russia will remain in the region until persons responsible for starting the war "are unable to do more mischief," Lavrov said.

Moscow was not looking to intensify conflict with the US and the European Union nations, and the Kremlin looks positively on the placement of international peacekeepers in the region, he said.

"We are interested in close cooperation with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and with the United Nations, so that security in South Ossetia and Abkhazia is maintained," Lavrov said.

Western nations have criticized Russia for its continued military occupation of Georgian territory outside the two enclaves. A mid-August agreement brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and signed by his Russian counterpart Dmitriy Medvedev committed Russia to pulling its troops back to pre-war positions.

Lavrov said the Russian army and navy positions within Georgia were "fully grounded in international law," and claimed Russia was not seeking conflict with any nation. Moscow's continued stationing of combat units within Georgia was necessary to provide security and stability in the region, he argued.

Russia has long maintained Abkhazia and South Ossetia should not be part of Georgia and are not part of Georgian territory.

Georgia's position is that when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, Russian leaders signed treaties establishing the border between Georgia and Russia, and confirming Abkhazia and South Ossetia came under Georgian control. (dpa)