MOSCOW, February 9. /TASS/. Russian stocks rallied on the Moscow Exchange on Monday amid decreasing geopolitical tensions and investors’ hopes for the successful completion of talks on the Ukraine crisis.

The ruble-denominated MICEX index surged by 4.17% to 1,829.19 points by 12:00 p.m. Moscow time (09:00 GMT) on Monday, exceeding the 1,800-point mark for the first time since April 2011 while the dollar-denominated RST index climbed by 6.8% to 882.09 points.

A new attempt to make progress in settling the Ukraine crisis will be made in Berlin on Monday where deputy foreign ministers from Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France will meet to prepare a summit of the "Normandy Four" leaders planned for February 11 in Minsk.

The markets gained a rate opportunity for a rally already last week amid rising world oil prices and geopolitical developments, said Mark Bradford, an analyst with BCS Financial Group.

The sides brokering peaceful settlement in Ukraine have managed to bring their positions closer to each other and a final peace plan may be elaborated by February 11, Promsvyazbank analyst Ilya Frolov said.

"If these hopes come true and a plan is proposed on Wednesday, which will take into account the interests of all the sides to the conflict, this could become a serious catalyst for the market growth," the analyst said.

"Moreover, if the oil prices stay close to their highs since the start of this year, the MICEX index may try to reach the record level of about 1,850 points registered in April 2011," he said.

The stocks of many Russian companies are also rising after Russia’s government published on February 8 an official list of systemically important organizations that will enjoy state support, if necessary, analysts said.