ID :
124880
Sat, 05/29/2010 - 12:54
Auther :

Moscow, Pyongyang ready to go ahead with consultations-Russian FM.



MOSCOW, May 29 (Itar-Tass) -- Moscow and Pyongyang have voiced the
readiness to go ahead with consultations in order to find a way out of the
current inter-Korean crisis, the Russian Foreign Ministry said after
Friday's meeting between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin
and North Korea's ambassador in Moscow, Kim Yong-Jae.
"There has been a detailed exchange of opinion of the dangerous march
of events in the Korean Peninsula following the loss of the South Korean
corvette The Cheonan," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. "Both sides
confirmed the need for preventing a further escalation of tensions in the
region and expressed the readiness to continue consultations in the
interests of finding a way out of the current inter-Korean crisis."
On Thursday, the Chief Staff of the Russian Navy said that a team of
its mine and torpedo weapons specialists would fly to South Korea within
days.
"Russian specialists will study the material evidence collected on
site that have allowed the South Korean authorities to claim that The
Cheonan corvette was sunken by a North Korean torpedo."
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had responded to a request from the
South Korean leadership with a decision to dispatch a group of Russian
specialists to that country for a detailed probe into the results of the
investigation of the South Korean corvette Cheonan affair, the Kremlin's
press-service said in a special statement on Wednesday in connection with
the situation in the Korean Peninsula.
"Dmitry Medvedev believes it is of fundamental importance to determine
the real cause of the ship's loss, and who is personally responsible. We
proceed from the assumption that if there is reliable information proving
anyone's involvement in the incident, all measures the international
community may consider necessary and appropriate should be taken against
the culprits," the Kremlin's press service said.
Medvedev believes it is important for all parties concerned to show
restraint in order to avoid a further escalation of tensions and to
preserve peace, security and stability in the region.
The South Korean corvette The Cheonan sank on March 26 near the
division line separating the waters of South Korean and North Korea in the
Yellow Sea. Last week Seoul made public the results of a probe by
specialists into the ship's loss. As follows from the conclusions the
corvette was sunken by a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine.
Pyongyang denies the charges.

.Putin condoles sudden death of Itar-Tass deputy director-general.

MOSCOW, May 29 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
has offered condolences to the family and friends of Itar-Tass Deputy
Director General Alexander Babkin, who died a sudden death this week.
In a message to the family of the deceased the head of government said
Babkin "deservedly enjoyed great authority as a talented and competent
manager, who made a large contribution to the development of the Russian
mass media, in the first place, of the Itar-Tass news agency, to which he
dedicated his entire career."
"The loss of someone very dear is always a grave, irreparable loss
that is impossible to reconcile oneself with," Putin said. He wished
Alexander Babkin's relatives and friends "strength and courage in this sad
hour."
Itar-Tass Deputy Director General Alexander Babkin, in charge of the
agency's technical development, died a premature death on Wednesday. He
was 54.
He will be buried at Moscow's Miusskoye Cemetery after a funeral
ceremony and church service, due on Saturday morning.

.Russia, Kazakhstan agree to redistribute import taxes.

ST. PETERSBURG, May 29 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia and Kazakhstan have
agreed to redistribute proceeds from import taxes within the Customs Union
they are to launch as of July 1, Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister
Kumirzak Shukiyev, told the media after a meeting of the Supreme Board of
the Customs Union on Friday.
He said that if Belarus fails to join in the Customs Union by July 1,
Kazakhstan will have 7.69 percent of the customs taxes, and Russia, 92.31
percent.
Last March the Customs Union Commission made a decision on the
mechanism of calculating and distributing import customs taxes (other
duties, taxes and equivalent action fees).
Under the made decision the import customs taxes for each country
concerned were to be distributed as follows - Belarus - 4.7 percent,
Kazakhstan, 7.33 percent, and Russia, 87.97 percent.

.US to cooperate with Ukraine despite its decision not to join NATO.

WASHINGTON, May 29 (Itar-Tass) -- The decision to drop the policy of
seeking admission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a
sovereign right of Ukraine and the choice to exercise this right will in
no way harm Kiev's relations with Washington, US Department of State
spokesman Philip Crowley said on Friday shortly after the current
authorities of Ukraine under President Viktor Yanukovich made a decision
to curtail efforts to secure admission to the alliance that were exerted
by the previous administration.
It is up to Ukraine to make such decisions, Crowley said at a regular
news briefing. He promised that the Obama Administration would continue to
cooperate with the new government of Ukraine and support any decisions it
might make regarding relations with Europe and the United States.
Ukraine's admission to NATO at this moment in time is unrealistic,
President Viktor Yanukovich told a news conference in Lvov last Thursday.
He explained "this step is unrealistic for us, because we must have
the support of a majority of the population, and those in the alliance are
aware of that."
Yanukovich said that cooperation with the military bloc would continue.
"Ukraine will follow an open policy as a non-bloc state. We are not
affiliated either with NATO or the CSTO. In Europe countries like us are
many," he said.
For his part Foreign Minister Konstantin Grishchenko said later in the
day that the idea of Ukraine's membership of NATO did not enjoy the
support of a majority of Ukrainians and was having a destructive effect on
the country's foreign policy.
"We are removing the issue of NATO membership from the agenda. It is
this approach that meets best the current state of affairs," Grishchenko
said.

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