Russia's president on Tuesday said that Moscow aimed to hold a Middle East peace conference before the end of 2009 - a move backed by Egypt.

Russia, which has proposed such a conference in the past, is a member of the Quartet of Middle East negotiators, along with the European Union, the United States and the United Nations.

"We paid special attention to Middle East issues. We highly appreciate efforts by the Egyptian president to create an atmosphere of trust and cooperation in the region," Dmitry Medvedev said after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

"(The) Moscow Middle East conference, which we plan to hold before the end of the year, will also contribute to achieving this goal," he said at a joint news conference in Cairo.

Israeli spokesman Yigal Palmor said Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman recently said that Israel "would, in principle, agree to attend, provided, of course, that... Hamas and Hezbollah are not invited."

Moscow is the only Quartet member talking to Hamas, the group that controls Gaza but which is snubbed by Israel and the West. Russia also has good contacts with Israel.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, aide to President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas, said: "We welcome the holding of an international conference in Moscow. But before it can go ahead there must be real improvements."

This included stopping all Israeli colony activity on Palestinian land and an Israeli commitment to a two-state solution, he said.