Russia's Pacific Fleet cruiser begins visit to San Francisco.

SAN FRANCSCO, June 21 (Itar-Tass) - Russia's missile cruiser Varyag
entered the port of San Francisco on Sunday.
The flagship of Russia's Pacific Fleet began its unofficial visit to
the United States to boost cooperation between the two countries' fleets.
The crew in full dress uniform lined up on board the ship, while the
U.S. guard of honour - on dock.
The ship was flying Russia's naval flag, a blue Saint Andrew's Cross
on a white field.
The unofficial visit will last until June 25.
Russia's crew will take part in unveiling a memorial plaque to
commemorate participation of Russia's marines in firefighting in San
Francisco back in 1863. It will also lay flowers at the monument to the
U.S. Navy heavy cruiser San Francisco that took part in the battle in the
Pacific Ocean during WWII.
Marines plan to visit the mayor office and hold contests with their
U.S. counterparts. They will also organize a guide tour to the Varyag for
residents of San Francisco and representatives of Russian and local public
organizations.



.Russian, Cypriot foreign ministers to discuss stronger cooperation.

MOSCOW, June 21 (Itar-Tass) - Russian and Cypriot foreign ministers
Sergei Lavrov and Markos Kyprianou will meet on Monday to discuss issues
on the bilateral and international agenda, in particular Russia-EU
cooperation, Cyprus settlement, Iran's nuclear problem and the situation
in the Balkans.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said "the
positions of Russia and Cyprus coincide or are very close."
"The two countries speak for strengthening the United Nations' central
role in international relations as that of the main international
institution that seeks to ensure peace and security," the diplomat said.
"We are grateful to Cyprus for its constructive support for promoting
international discussions on the creation of a European security treaty
and for positive reaction to the document."
Speaking about bilateral cooperation between Moscow and Nicosia
Nesterenko stressed that Cyprus "continues to remain Russia's stable
economic partner and one of the leading sources for attracting foreign
investments into the Russian economy."
"In 2009 the volume of accrued investments from Cyprus totalled $49.1
billion, including $33.5 billion of direct investments. The trade turnover
reached $815 million," he said.
"Since 1992 the intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the
development of Russia's Black Sea region has been effective. It envisions
Cyprus' assistance to economic development of the Krasnodar Territory,
including that through attraction of foreign investments," Nesterenko
said. "Within the framework of this cooperation we welcome participation
of Cypriot construction and financial companies in the preparation for the
2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi."
Along with this the diplomat noted that Cyprus "remains one of the
most attractive places for Russian tourists." "In 2009 around 150,000
Russian tourists visited Cyprus. In the first months of 2010 the number of
Russians, who visited the island, increased by 14.3 percent as against the
same period of 2009," he said.
"We hope that the visit of the Cypriot foreign minister to Moscow will
contribute to further strengthening of fruitful cooperation and
rapprochement between our countries and people," Nesterenko said.



.Belarus hopes to resolve gas dispute with Gazprom Monday.

MINSK, June 21 (Itar-Tass) - Belarus hopes to reach an agreement on
gas supplies at the talks with Russia's gas giant Gazprom in Moscow early
on Monday.
The delegation led by Belarussian Deputy Economics Minister Anatoly
Filonov left for the Russian capital to find consensus. It also includes
top representatives of the Energy Ministry and Beltransgaz.
The talks with Gazprom are scheduled for 7:00 Moscow time on Monday,
Belarussian First Deputy Energy Minister Eduard Tovpenets told reporters
before his departure to Moscow.
He noted that the Belarussian-Russian talks in St. Petersburg on
Saturday yielded no results.
"The parties discussed five issues - no results," he said adding that
it was agreed that the Belarussian delegation will arrive in Moscow "to
coordinate different issues, including those on Beltransgaz' markups and
on gas transit."
In 2010 Belarus took a unilateral decision to pay last year's price
for Russian gas exports that is much lower than that stipulated by the
effective contract. As a result Belarus' debt to Gazprom increased to $192
million. Gazprom demanded that Beltransgaz should pay off the debt until
June 21, otherwise it will restrict gas exports to Belarus beginning from
10:00 Moscow time on Monday.
Meanwhile, in reply to journalists' question whether Belarus will pay
its gas debt President Alexander Lukashenko said "if proceed from Russia's
point of view this is the debt", but if to take into account Minsk's
official position there is no debt.
"I believe we will agree. If we decide that this is the debt and that
it is difficult for Russia to leave last year's gas price, we will pay, we
will find the money," he said.
However, soon after these words of the president the Belarussian side
unexpectedly made its financial claim against Russia saying that Gazprom
allegedly owed Belarus $200 million for gas transit.