MOSCOW (Reuters) - World number five Maria Sharapova will lead champions Russia in next month's Fed Cup first round tie against Israel in Tel Aviv.

In the absence of world number two Svetlana Kuznetsova for personal reasons, Russia captain Shamil Tarpishchev also named world number six Anna Chakvetadze, 16th-ranked Dinara Safina, Elena Vesnina (55) and doubles specialist Elena Likhovtseva.

Tarpishchev said he would select the four players for the February 2-3 tie during his team's training camp in Israel.

"They have (Shahar) Peer ranked in the world top 20 and they will be playing at home, so it won't be an easy match by any means," said Tarpishchev, who has led Russia to three Fed Cup triumphs in the last four years.

Sharapova, who faces world number one Justine Henin in the Australian Open quarter-finals on Tuesday, hopes to finally make her Fed Cup debut for Russia after being forced to miss last year's final against Italy because of a shoulder injury.

(Reporting by Gennady Fyodorov; editing by Pritha Sarkar)