Russia-NATO Council for mins might meet in New York in September-Rogozin.

BRUSSELS, July 16 (Itar-Tass) -- The next meeting of the Russia-NATO
Council at the level of foreign ministers might be held in New York in
September within the framework of the U.N. General Assembly, Russia's
permanent representative at the North Atlantic Alliance Dmitry Rogozin
told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
"It would be reasonable and convenient to hold a ministerial meeting
of the Russia-NATO Council, which was called off due to technical reasons
in June, in New York in September within the framework of the U.N. General
Assembly that will be attended by foreign ministers from all 29 member
states of the Russia-NATO Council," he said.
According to Rogozin, on Friday the Russia-NATO Council will hold an
ambassadorial meeting in Brussels, the last one before summer vacations,
to discuss Russia's initiative on a European security treaty, and missile
defence issues.
Ambassadorial meetings of the Russia-NATO Council will be resumed in
September.

.Magnitude 5 earthquake registered in Bering Sea in Far East.

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, July 16 (Itar-Tass) -- An earthquake
measuring 5.3 points on the open-end Richter scale was registered in the
Bering Sea near Russia's Kamchatka coast early on Friday, the Russian
Academy of Sciences' Geophysical Service reported.
According to the service, earth tremors were registered at 08:28 a.m.
local time (00:28 a.m. Moscow time). The focus of the earthquake was
located at the depth of 33 kilometers under the seabed.
According to the press service of the Russian Emergencies Ministry's
Kamchatka administration, the epicentre of the earthquake was located 165
kilometers to the south-east of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. No
tsunami warning was issued, no casualties reported.

.Russia, Bulgaria to sign South Stream roadmap.

VARNA, July 16 (Itar-Tass) -- A Russian delegation led by Minister of
Energy Sergei Shmatko arrived in Bulgaria's resort city Varna late on
Thursday to hold negotiations on the South Stream gas pipeline project.
The basic task of the Russian delegation is to agree and sign a
roadmap to implement the project, a top executive from Russia's national
gas utility Gazprom, Alexander Medvedev, told Itar-Tass.
"The immediate task is to sign a roadmap for the construction of the
South Stream gas pipeline," Medvedev said. "The document is practically
ready, and there are only some technical details to by squared with the
Bulgarian side."
The Bulgarian delegation will be headed by Minister of Economy and
Energy Traicho Traikov.
Principal agreement on Bulgaria's participation in the project was
reiterated in early July during negotiations between Russia's First Deputy
Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov.
Commenting on the results of his talks with Zubkov, Borissov said
there were no disputes between Bulgaria and Russia concerning the
construction of the South Stream gas pipeline. In his words, the sides
agreed to use the existing gas pipelines in Bulgaria for the South Stream
project and that the amount of gas transported via Bulgaria would be
increased to 63 billion cubic metres.
Zubkov said it was necessary to speed up the settlement of technical
issues, such as setting up a company that would draft necessary
documentation and carry out pre-design studies of the pipeline's routes.
On Friday, co-chairmen of the Russian-Bulgarian intergovernmental
commission on trade and economic and research and technological
cooperation, ministers Traicho Traikkov and Sergei Shmatko, will hold a
final round of talks on the South Stream's roadmap. Representatives from
Russia's Gazprom and Gazprom Export, and Bulgaria's Bulgargaz and
Bulgargaztras will also take part in the negotiations.
The South Stream is a joint project of Gazprom and Italy's ENI, which
envisages the deliveries of Russian and, possibly, Central Asian natural
gas to Europe across the Black Sea. The project costs about 10 billion
euros.
Natural gas will be transported from Russia's Novorossiisk seaport to
Austria and Italy through Bulgarian Varna seaport and the Balkan Pipeline.
The undersea segment will stretch out for about 900 kilometers at the
maximum depth of over 2,000 meters.
The second stretch of the pipeline will link Greece and southern Italy
across the Adriatic Sea. Two lines will be laid from Bulgaria across the
Balkan Peninsula to Italy and Austria.
-0-ras


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