Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev was quoted as saying Tuesday that Moscow should consider cutting back its ties with Algeria, where four Russians were killed this week in a terrorist attack.


RIA news agency said Kozyrev made his remark at a meeting with Russian ambassadors to African countries. Kozyrev told them Moscow already "issued a stern warning to Algerian authorities."


"Andrei Kozyrev proposed to the meeting to consider the possibility of reducing cooperation with Algeria in the aftermath of terrorist attacks," the agency said.


Gunmen disguised as Algerian police stopped a bus carrying about 15 workers of Algeria's state oil company Sonatrach in the capital, Algiers, on Monday.


They separated four Russians and a Romanian, who worked with the company, ordered them from the bus, and machinegunned them.


In another attack Tuesday, two militants and two policemen died in a gun battle after gunmen ambushed a police patrol near the Italian Embassy in a relatively secure area for diplomats and other foreigners, officials said.


Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Martino later told reporters, after meeting his French colleague Alain Juppe, that Paris and Rome may evacuate their nationals from Algeria if the violence worsens. Assailants slit the throats of seven Italian sailors last week.


Six other Russians have been killed since Moslem fundamentalists issued an ultimatum last September to all foreigners to leave the country or be killed.


Fifty-one foreigners have been killed in 30 months of political violence since the government cancelled elections that Islamic activists were poised to win.


The biggest single number to die were 12 Croat Christian technicians who had their throats cut in December.


The attacks have struck hardest at countries that have maintained strong trade links to Algeria, including Russia, Italy and France.


Russia formally advised all its subjects Monday to drop any planned trips to the country.


An estimated 80,000 foreigners, including Algerians with dual nationality, resided in Algeria one year ago, according to official figures. Roughly half are believed to have left since then.