MOSCOW (REUTERS) — Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, signalling a desire to revive stalled peace talks, will hold urgent talks at his own request with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday on the violence in the Middle East.

Arafat and Israel have repeatedly urged Russia -- nominally co-sponsor of the peace process with the United States -- to get more involved in efforts to halt the violence, which has led to more than 258 deaths since September 28.

''I confirm that tomorrow there will be a meeting between Putin and the head of the Palestinian Authority,'' Kremlin spokesman Alexei Gromov said by telephone on Thursday.

''The meeting has been arranged at the request of the Palestinian side. I can add nothing else for now.''

Israel said earlier that Arafat, last in Moscow in early August, had signalled a desire to revive deadlocked peace talks and end the two months of violence.

Russia has played a muted second fiddle in the peace process for a long time. But it has called for international efforts to halt the violence and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov has recently toured the region.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami said U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had told him in a phone call that Arafat had expressed a desire to renew talks which have been severed since the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian fighting.

Russian news agencies said Arafat had sent an urgent message to Putin through Russia's representative in the Palestinian territories, Sergei Peskov, on Wednesday to ask for the meeting.

''The document contained a request to Russia as a co-sponsor of the peace process to take urgent measures to halt 'Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people','' RIA news agency reported.

Interfax news agency said Arafat would arrive in Moscow on Friday morning and head straight for talks with Putin in the Kremlin.

RIA quoted Putin's special Middle East representative Vasily Sredin, a deputy foreign minister, as saying Moscow was particularly alarmed by the growing tension between the Palestinians and Israel.

He said Russia understood the two sides had lost trust in each other but urged them to exercise maximum restraint.

''If they do not, the development of events in the Palestinian territories and the region could become simply unpredictable and have serious consequences,'' RIA quoted Sredin as saying.

Putin has held telephone conversations with both Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in recent weeks.