Japan scrambled fighter jets Thursday after a pair of Russian bombers briefly intruded into the country's airspace, officials said.

The two Tu-95 planes breached airspace near the isle of Okinoshima off Fukuoka in southern Japan for nearly two minutes shortly after midday (0300 GMT), a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

Russia received the chief Palestinian negotiator with Israel on Thursday, urging the two sides to strengthen trust to build stability in the recently resumed Middle East peace negotiations.

"We understand that you are only at the very start. We want the resumed talks to assume stability," news agencies quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as telling Saeb Erakat at the start of their meeting.

Russia on Wednesday called Syrian opposition claims of the Damascus regime launching a chemical weapons attack that killed more than 1,300 people a "premeditated provocation."

The foreign ministry stressed that the reports were issued just as a U.N. chemical weapons inspection team had arrived in Syria and noted that "this makes us think that we are once again dealing with a premeditated provocation."

Russia's economy minister warned on Wednesday that officials will probably have to downgrade the 2013 growth forecast for the second time in months because of a poor first-half performance.

The Federal State Statistics Service reported on August 9 that Russia's economy expanded by just 1.4 percent of gross domestic product compared to the first six months of 2012.

Russians in the Far East on Tuesday battled rising floodwaters as authorities evacuated more than 23,000 people from affected areas and scrambled to prevent the outbreak of infection.

Heavy rains pounding Khabarovsk, a Far Eastern city located near the Chinese border, since July have swelled the local Amur River to nearly 7 meters -- a level unseen since monitoring of the area began in 1895.

Top Russian and U.S. officials will meet in The Hague next week to discuss preparations for a long-delayed international peace conference on Syria, Russia's deputy foreign minister said on Monday.

"This meeting will take place in the middle of next week in The Hague," Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told the Interfax news agency.

Floods in the Russian Far East broke historic records Monday as authorities evacuated more than 19,000 people from affected areas and warned of a further rise in water levels.

The Amur river rose to record levels in the city of Khabarovsk and rain continued to batter the region as authorities sent out bottled water and administered shelters for displaced residents.

More than 17,000 people have been evacuated in Russia's flood-hit Far East, a minister said Saturday, warning this figure could reach 100,000 as floodwaters wreak havoc across the region.

The deluge has been declared a natural disaster in the worst-affected regions of Amur and Khabarovsk, where Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the army to participate in rescue operations.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has denied speculation that U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden was interrogated by Russian authorities, telling Australian media they had "behaved well".

Snowden, who is wanted by Washington on espionage charges linked to his disclosures about the secret details of U.S. surveillance programs, was granted asylum by Russia on August 1 after spending some five weeks at Moscow airport.

Russia's foreign ministry on Thursday urged tourists to avoid trips to Egypt because of raging violence that has claimed more than 400 lives and spread to provinces outside the capital Cairo.

"Clashes and unrest that began in the capital are quickly spreading to other cities and regions of Egypt, including those favoured by tourists," ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement.