MOSCOW, November 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russian news agency RIA Novosti resumed on Monday the Arabic edition of the Moscow News paper after a 17-year break, Anbaa Mosku editor Raed Jaber said.

To begin with, MN in Arabic will be a monthly publication with a circulation of 150,000 copies in 15 Arab countries and Israel. If it proves a success, the paper could switch to weekly or even daily editions, RIA Novosti chief Svetlana Mironyuk said on Sunday.

"Russia's cooperation with the Arab world is impossible without the exchange of information. We are planning to provide objective coverage of [Russia's] political, economic and social life," Jaber said.

He said the paper's key task would be to bridge the information gap that had formed between Russia and Arab nations over the past 17 years.

"Today, Russia is regaining its place as a serious political player in the Middle East, fighting for the establishment of a lasting and just peace in the region," Mironyuk said in an interview with the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat.

She also pledged RIA Novosti would continue to search for "the most effective ways of targeting international audiences."

The front page of the first issue of MN in Arabic carries a message to readers from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.