PACE to consider human rights report on N Caucasus - Kosachyov.

MOSCOW, June 19 (Itar-Tass) -- Ingushetia's President Yunus-Bek
Yevkurov will attend a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe devoted to the question of human rights in the North
Caucasus, the chairman of the State Duma's committee on international
affairs, Konstantin Kosachyov, who is Russia's chief delegate to the PACE, confirmed to the media on Friday.

"We have suggested hearing the president of Ingushetia in person in
the course of the discussion of the paper and the draft resolution on the
subject. He received an invitation from the PACE and he is going with us
to Strasbourg," Kosachyov said.
The chief Russian delegate described as "fairly balanced" the report
on the human rights situation in the North Caucasus, submitted by Dick
Marty, of Switzerland. It takes into account the amendments and proposals
made by Russian parliamentarians, he believes.
"This report, from our point of view, is quite honest and objective,
there are no attempts at preaching or lecturing, nor does it impose on
Russia any patterns of addressing the situation in the North Caucasus,
particularly so, in the face of continuing terrorist attacks," Kosachyov
said. As he prepared the report, Dick Marty, made fact-finding tour of the
Chechen Republic, Dagestan and Ingushetia in late April.
According to the PACE's drafts of resolutions and recommendations,
obtained by Itar-Tass, the Assembly wishes to hail efforts by the Russian
authorities for healing the effects of the first and second Chechen war,
to condemn terrorist acts, but at the same time to state that the
situation in the North Caucasus is serious and sensitive in terms of human
rights.
The authorities in the Chechen Republic continue to maintain an
atmosphere of fear, although there are undeniable successes in
reconstruction and marked improvement in the region's infrastructures...
The human rights situation, the operation of the justice system and of
democratic institutions, nevertheless, remains a serious concern, the
draft says.

.President Medvedev to chair modernization commission meeting Sat.

ST. PETERSBURG, June 19 (Itar-Tass) -- On the final day of the 14th
St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev will chair a meeting of the commission on modernization
and technological development. The heads of foreign companies will
participate. Also, he will meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Medvedev declared the intention to hold a meeting of the commission on
the sidelines of the Forum at the previous session in May.
"The SPIEF's floor this year is to become one more place where to
discuss issues of innovation, and I do hope that our foreign partners will
be able to team up with us for a discussion," Medvedev said then.
According to presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich, the commission "will
discuss foreign economic policy matters and its role in technological
upgrading and innovative development."
After that Medvedev will speak at the full-scale session entitled
Rethinking the Global Development.
The partakers in the discussion will see what is to become the main
engine of growth in the global economy in the near future and medium term,
the role the BRIC countries, and the risks still remaining in the global
system.
"Today the president of Russia will meet with French President Nicolas
Sarkozy, who is arriving in St. Petersburg," Dvorkovich said. "The leaders
will participate in a meeting with Russian and French business circles,
where there will be an informal dialogue on joint initiatives and joint
investment and innovation projects."
"We expect that the French president will break the news who will
coordinate the participation of French companies in the Skolkovo project,"
he added.
"In the afternoon there will follow bilateral talks between the
presidents of Russia and France," Dvorkovich said. A number of documents
will be signed and the two leaders will look back on the results at a news
conference.

.Ukrainian govt considers Naftogaz-Gazprom joint venture - Azarov.

KIEV, June 19 (Itar-Tass) -- The Ukrainian government is considering
the possibility and expediency of creating a joint venture of Naftogaz
Ukrainy and Gazprom, Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov said on Ukraine's fifth
television channel on Friday.
"We are considering the question of a joint venture with Gazprom," he
said, adding that "the European Union has expressed interest in the
emergence of such a consortium."
"A future gas pipeline consortium might be based on several major
principles. Firstly, the EU might issue guarantees to Russia for many
years to come, say, for ten years, it will be purchasing Russian natural
gas. For its part, the Russian side would offer Ukraine its guarantees
that these volumes of gas, purchased by the European Union, will be pumped
through our gas pipeline system. Then we, the European Union and Russia,
all of us, would have incentives to investing into the modernization of
the Ukrainian gas pipelines," Azarov said. "In other words, there will
appear a real basis for the establishment of an enterprise in which equal
stakes would belong to the European Union and Russia, while Naftogaz, that
is, Ukraine, would retain the decisive package and the leverage to run the
gas transportation system. This is the type of scheme that I proposed. The
European Union has reacted to it with understanding. "

-0-str