Euro fall threat should not be underestimated - Medvedev.

ST. PETERSBURG, June 18 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev does not think that the collapse of the European currency is
close, but he does not totally rule out such a threat. He also does not
believe that Russia should provide direct financial assistance to the
European Union.
In an interview to The Wall Street Journal, asked whether Europe's
debt turmoil could threaten the euro, Medvedev said, "I don't exaggerate
the threat, but it can't be underestimated."
The RF president called the situation in the EU unique. "There are
states with weak economies and strong currency in Europe today, which has
never happened in the humankind history, because this currency is
supranational," he explained. "And the question is how to 'marry' all
this, how this will work in the relatively long-term prospect and event in
the medium-term prospect," Medvedev believes. "And it is because of this
that the so-called 'parties of national currencies' have intensified their
activity in a number of countries: the German mark party, French franc
party," he said.
"This is such, generally, rather serious threat to the European Union
as a common market and as a union of European states," the RF president is
certain. "Therefore I don't exaggerate the threat, but it can't be
underestimated."
The Russian president didn't rule out financial assistance to
struggling European nations, but said the European Union should bear the
burden of any major "financial injections." "Russia's prosperity, to a
large extent, depends on how well things are going on the European
continent," Medvedev said. "We are not a member of the EU, but we are a
European country."
Answering a question about the support of Russia he noted that "the RF
has its internal tasks that we should fulfil." "There are a number of
projects where we are really working with states which have weakened
economies today, and if we look upon this through the prism of our
relations in this sphere, on such projects, then perhaps, yes," he
believes. "And if we speak about direct financial injections, it is
desirable that the European Union partners should do this," the RF head of
state stressed.
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.Medvedev hopes US to fulfil Russia WTO admission promises.

ST. PETERSBURG, June 18 (Itar-Tass) - Russia and the United States
should "step over the boundary" and reach an agreement regarding Russia's
accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
"I think that we should step over this boundary, because not only
Russia benefits from Russia's membership in the WTO, for Russia it is a
trial to a certain extent, but the whole WTO system and other countries
will benefit, because we want to act under one and the same rules,"
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with The Wall
Street Journal.
Calling this issue "a long-standing illness," Medvedev recalled that
"the American partners had promised us their support here." "I don't know
how the developments will go, but I would like to talk about this with my
colleague and do everything for Russia's accession to the WTO to take
place at last," he noted.
"It is necessary to agree on several relatively small, but remaining
debatable positions on which our colleagues are currently holding
negotiations: the RF government, trade representative and other US
officials," the RF president said. "We have the minimal differences
currently, in my view, they are party a matter of taste, in any case in my
view, or they are linked with the way the US understands its economic
interests," he explained.
Medvedev is certain that the discussion on most of the issues "will
break away as soon as the Russian Federation joins the WTO." "We have been
stringed along for rather a long time, longer than several other very
large economies," he believes. "Therefore, I repeat again: I hope that the
promises that had once been given by the American administration in office
will be fulfilled," the RF president said.
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.Sukhoi ends preliminary ground, flight tests on PAK FA aircraft.

MOSCOW, June 18 (Itar-Tass) - The Sukhoi company has completed a
complex of preliminary ground and flight operations under the programme of
the Future Frontline Aircraft System (PAK FA) of the fifth generation, the
Sukhoi press service told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
"All the three test samples were engaged in the works undergoing
endurance bed tests, ground testing of the fuel systems and other works
for ensuring the flight tests programme," Sukhoi specified. "A total of 16
flights have been performed on the test sample."
The Sukhoi fighter plane on Thursday performed a demonstration flight.
RF Prime Minister Vladimir Putin watched the flight. He visited the Gromov
Flight Research Institute in Zhukovsky outside Moscow.
The Sukhoi PAK FA literally is a fifth-generation jet fighter being
developed by Sukhoi OKB for the Russian Air Force.
The current prototype is Sukhoi's T-50. The PAK FA when fully
developed is intended to replace the MiG-29 Fulcrum and Su-27 Flanker in
the Russian inventory and serve as the basis of the Sukhoi/HAL FGFA
project being developed with India. A fifth generation jet fighter, it is
designed to directly compete with Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor and F-35
Lightning II. The T-50 performed its first flight January 29, 2010. Its
second flight was on February 6 and its third on February 12.
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.Unemployment in Russia drops from 6,5 to 5,6 mln-statistics.

MOSCOW, June 18 (Itar-Tass) - The number of unemployed in Russia has
decreased from 6.5 million people in May 2009 to 5.6 million in May 2010,
or by some 14 percent, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat)
reported on Thursday.
The unemployment level calculated as the ratio of the number of
unemployed to the number of economically active population has decreased
over the same period from 8.5 percent to 7.3 percent or by 1.2 percentage
points.
In May 2010, according to preliminary results of the study of the
population regarding employment, the number of the economically active
population aged from 15 to 72 (employed and unemployed) reached 75.8
million people or 53 percent of the total country's population, Prime-Tass
reported.
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