Russia finds new draft resolution on Iran to be well-balanced.

UNITED NATIONS, May 19 (Itar-Tass) - Russia believes that the draft
resolution on Iran, which the U.S. submitted to the UN Security Council
Tuesday, is well balanced, Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin
said.
"This draft resolution is well balanced and that's why we agreed to
accept the text on the whole after the long discussions and corrections of
the initial proposals and we find it to be an appropriate one," he said.
Churkin said, however, it is difficult to forecast right now how much
time the members of the Security Council will need to coordinate the text.
"We can't says now how long it will take to adopt this resolution," he
said. "All will depend on the reaction of the Council's members, and on
the work that's yet to be done - including in the format of the six
negotiating countries /five permanent members of the Security Council and
Germany - Itar-Tass/ -- in what concerns the sanction lists."
"Quite naturally, members of the Council will weigh out the general
political situation, including the progress Iran will be able to show, and
the progress the international community will make in creating positive
dynamics," Churkin said.
He indicated that this applies to the pattern of exchange of fuel for
the Teheran research reactor and, on a broader plane, many other issues
pertaining to the Iranian nuclear program.
As reported earlier, the draft resolution specifies sanctions against
the Iranian banks that are linked to the execution of the country's
nuclear program.
Also, it establishes the mechanisms for inspecting the ships that fall
under the suspicion of hauling the cargoes, which might serve the purpose
of the Iranian nuclear and missile programs.
The draft spells out a range of other restrictive measures.
U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice said the document is called upon
to toughen the already existing UN sanctions.
She indicated that it is meant to press Iran into meeting the
international community's requirements.


.Five quakes registered since Tue morning along Russia's Pacific coast.

VLADIVOSTOK, May 19 (Itar-Tass) - A total of five earthquakes has been
registered along Russia's Pacific coast since Tuesday morning.
A quake measuring 5.0 on the open-ended Richter scale was registered
in the Sea of Okhotsk off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula in the
small hours of Wednesday. It epicenter was located 535 kilometers to the
northwest of the Kamchatka territory's capital Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
and the seismic focus was identified at the depth of 20 kilometers below
the sea floor.
In the small hours of morning, a quake measuring 3.9 points occurred
in the water area of the Aniva bay near the island of Sakhalin. The
Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences said the tectonic
cataclysm had been identified at the depth of 350 kilometers below the sea
floor.
Tuesday, quakes with the magnitudes of 6.0 points and 4.7 points were
noticed in the vicinity of the Kurile Islands.
An earthquake with the magnitude of 5.1 points was registered on the
Commander's Islands.
None of the quakes were felt in any of the population centers along
the Pacific coast and the authorities did not call a tsunami threat.

.Political, economic cooperation focus of Namibian Pres visit to
Moscow.

PRETORIA, May 19 (Itar-Tass) - Expansion of political and economic
cooperation between Namibia and Russia will be the central aspect of the
talks that Namibia's President Hifikepunye Pohamba will have with top
Russian officials during his first official visit to Russia from May 19
through to May 21.
The agenda includes Pohamba's negotiations with Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev.
"We expect President Pohamba's stay in Moscow to mark a new phase of
active political dialogue," Dmitry Suslov, the Councilor Minister of the
Russian embassy in Windhoek told Itar-Tass by telephone.
"The sides that have long started efficacious cooperation in a wide
range of areas, have reached the stage where they should sign four or five
agreements in the economic, social and other spheres," he said.
Especially promising is the project for the Russian natural giant
Gazprom's participation in the Kudu deposit of natural gas on Namibia's
continental shelf, as well as agreements on fisheries and on tourism.
Namibia is one of the most persistent proponents of expanding and
strengthening of cooperation with Russia.
Most of the country's current leaders studied in the former Soviet
Union. They still speak Russian fluently and address their Russian
counterpart with the word 'tovarishch', which means 'comrade'.
-0-kle


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