Medvedev arrives in Astana after Russia's Far East tour.

ASTANA, July 5 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
arrived in Astana after a four-day tour of Russia's Far East. Due to a
five-hour time difference between Vladivostok and Astana the president
landed in the Kazakh capital just an hour later than the time he left the
main city of the Primorsky Territory, so the day of the president has made
30 hours. Thus, "his major tour of the Far East" became longer.
On Monday, Dmitry Medvedev will participate in a meeting of the
Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) Interstate Council in Astana at the
level of presidents (Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Tajikistan, Ukraine,
Armenia and Kyrgyzstan). High on the agenda of the meeting are the
negotiations on several important issues of this organization and the
fulfillment of the previous decisions. The presidents are to make a joint
statement over a forthcoming 10th anniversary of the EurAsEC founding
treaty due on October 10.
Joint measures to overcome the aftermath of the world financial crisis
are an important aspect of the EurAsEC activities. Russian First Deputy
Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov will deliver a report on the issue.
The documents establishing a EurAsEC Court will also be discussed. The
presidents will also approve a budget address and a EurAsEC budget for
2011. They will also sum up the results of the first stage of the Customs
Union formation, which ended on July 1 with the Customs Code entered into
force.
The Russian president is also to meet with Kyrgyz caretaker president
Roza Otunbayeva, have negotiations with Kazakh President Nursultan
Nazarbayev, upon the results of which bilateral documents will be signed.
Dmitry Medvedev will also have a cultural program during the visit. He
will attend a concert given by a famous baritone opera singer Dmitry
Khvorostovsky and an inauguration ceremony of the trading and
entertainment center Khan Shatyry.

.Armenia, USA share positions on many issues of int'l relations.

YEREVAN, July 5 (Itar-Tass) -- Armenia and the United States "share
positions on many issues of international relations," Armenian Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandyan told a joint press conference with U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton here on Sunday.
"We agreed that all the effort should be taken to settle the Karabakh
conflict just in the peaceful way," the foreign minister noted. He noted
that the Karabakh settlement should be based on "the international law
principles, particularly neither the use of force nor a threat of force,
the legal equality of nations and the right for self-determination and
territorial integrity."
"We agreed that a tolerance climate should be created in the region
and not to pursue a belligerent policy," Nalbandyan noted.
Armenia and the U.S. "agreed that Armenian-Turkish relations should be
improved without any preconditions and agreed to promote regional economic
cooperation," the minister pointed out. Yerevan and Washington "share the
position that the market economy and democratic values should be
developed," he underlined.

.Kaczynski leading at Poland presidential polls after 50% counted.

WARSAW, July 5 (Itar-Tass) -- The Polish State Election Commission
have counted 50% of ballots. According to the preliminary results made
public on Monday, leader of the opposition party Law and Justice Jaroslaw
Kaczynski gained 50.41%. His rival Bronislaw Komorowski, who had been in
the lead so far, polled 49.59% of votes.
The ballot count continues. The State Election Commission will
announce the final official results on Monday afternoon.
The exit polls claimed that Komorowski had won. Kaczynski is 2-6%
behind, according to various sociological surveys.
The second round presidential elections was held in Poland last
Sunday. The early elections were announced in the republic after the
tragic death of President Lech Kaczynski in the air crash outside
Smolensk. Komorowski gained 41.54% of votes, Kaczynski - 36.46% in the
first round on June 20. The turnout has made 54.94% in the first round.

.PACE co-rapporteurs for Russia monitoring to visit Moscow.

MOSCOW, July 5 (Itar-Tass) -- Co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Gyorgy Frunda (Romania) and
Andreas Gross (Switzerland) will arrive here on Monday.
The visit will be held as part of preparations of a report on
monitoring of Russia's commitments to the Council of Europe that the PACE
will probably discuss in January 2011, the deputy head of the Russian
delegation to the PACE and the first deputy chairman of the State Duma
Committee for International Relations, Leonid Slutsky, told Itar-Tass.
The European lawmakers will have meetings in the Russian Justice
Ministry, the Prosecutor General's Office, the Public Chamber, the State
Duma, the Central Elections Commission and the Moscow City Duma, Slutsky
said. "I hope that this visit and the recent Moscow visit of PACE
President Mevlut Cavusoglu will give a fresh impetus to putting Russia out
of the Council of Europe monitoring," he noted.
For his part, PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu noted that he hopes for
the soonest termination of the PACE monitoring for Russia.
In 1996 Russia joined the Council of Europe and since then the country'
s commitments have been monitored. The PACE co-rapporteurs usually deliver
a major review report twice a year. The report dwells on the human rights
situation in the country, both humanitarian and political aspects of the
issue.
Last time the co-rapporteurs delivered a report on monitoring of
Russia's commitments in 2005.
-0-baz


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