(Adds Lavrov's quote in para 6)

LONDON, June 27 (RIA Novosti) - Tony Blair will resign as British prime minister Wednesday after ten years in office, making way for his former finance chief Gordon Brown, and is expected to take on a new role as a Mideast envoy.

The premier, whose time in office has been clouded by the U.K.'s involvement in the unpopular Iraq war, held his last Prime Minister's Questions session in parliament and will formally tender his resignation to Queen Elizabeth at 1:05 p.m. local time (12:05 GMT).

Blair is also expected to quit as MP for the Sedgefield constituency in northern England if he secures an appointment as Middle East envoy from the "Quartet" regulating the Palestinian-Israeli conflict - the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations.

The prime minister held talks Tuesday evening with Russian President Vladmir Putin in a bid to calm Moscow's concerns over the appointment, given his controversial role in the region, in particular

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