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.

"This step in particular under the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan is central to these international discussions ... We should discuss concrete steps to prevent repeat aggression," the minister said.

Russia pledged to pull back fully on Wednesday from its checkpoints inside Georgia around the breakaway region of South Ossetia, the head of the Russian peacekeeping forces said.

Under the EU deal, Moscow has until Friday to withdraw its forces from buffer zones around the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Moscow recognized as independent republics after the conflict. (dpa)