SOCHI, Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin supports reviving the so-called Quartet of international mediators in order to launch a new drive to revive the Middle East peace process, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday.

The Quartet - the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations - is expected to meet in Washington on February 2 to try to kick-start long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Merkel has been pushing for such a meeting.

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"We agreed completely that the revival of the Middle East Quartet is a good thing," Merkel told reporters after meeting Putin in the city of Sochi on the Black Sea coast.

Putin said: "We intend to pay special attention to the solution of the Middle East problem based on the road map recognized by all sides.

"We support efforts by [Merkel] to hold a meeting of the Quartet of mediators very soon," the Russian president added.