Medvedev to look into problems of judicial system development.

MOSCOW, July 19 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will
devote his working day on Monday to problems in the development of the
judicial system. The president will meet in St. Petersburg with state
officials to discuss the current state of the judicial system and will
hold a session on financial matters concerning its development.
"The task to create an up-to-date qualitative legal framework,
judicial system is highly topical for our state. I will look into that
personally as I consider this a key priority of our development and one of
component parts of modernizing our society," the president said earlier.
So far he is not satisfied with they way things are in that sphere,
but says efforts that are being made are steps in the right direction.
"Over the past year-and-a-half or two years this legislation has got off
the ground, and staffers of law enforcement agencies, judges and lawyers
on the whole feel that changes do take place," the president said recently.
"We are interested in updating our judicial system so that to make it
efficient, and create conditions when our citizens would have no need to
apply to international courts or, at any rate, reduce the number of such
appeals," Medvedev said.
According to the president, the biggest problems in the Russian
judicial system are lack of respect to court and implementation of court
decisions. He also admitted "facts of administrative pressure on court or
direct bribery of judges by business people".
He calls these problems "birthmarks that persist in our judicial
system and discredit it". According to the president, nowadays judges with
a good work experience receive almost 100,000 roubles a month (over 3,300
U.S. dollars).
"This seems a rather sufficient margin of safety, but not always. That
is why the updating of the system remuneration of labour and big
exactingness when discipline is violated are two sides of the same medal.
If a judge is caught wrong-doing, he or she must be immediately sacked,
and if it is a crime - he or she must go to prison," the president
stressed.

.Ukraine FM visits Baku to discuss bilateral ties.

BAKU, July 19 (Itar-Tass) - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Konstantin
Grishchenko has arrived in Baku for a two-day official visit to discuss
with the leadership of Azerbaijan ways to boost bilateral ties, including
cooperation of the two countries in the energy sector, the Azerbaijani
Foreign Ministry reports.
According to the ministry, the top Ukrainian diplomat will meet with
his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mamedyarov and with Prime Minister Artur
Rasizade.
It is believed that a boost to political dialogue between Baku and
Kiev with an aim of bringing closer the stances of the two counties on
many issues of bilateral relations and international matters will be among
the focal points of the talks.
It is also not ruled out that the political component of the talks
will include matters connected with prospects of the regional agency GUAM
(which includes Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) in the light of
political changes in Ukraine. Analysts believe that at talks in Baku the
sides will also consider cooperation between Azerbaijan and Ukraine in
integration processes within the framework of EU's Eastern Partnership
Programme.
As for the economic topics, the sides are expected to discuss
transportation of Azerbaijani oil on the Baku-Odessa-Brody-Plotsk-Gdansk
route. The official Baku has expressed political support for that project,
but it expects a convincing confirmation of its economic profitability.
Besides, some technical matters must be solved for the implementation of
the project.
According to diplomatic sources, no documents will be signed during
the visit.

.Naval journey pays tribute to memory of compatriots in Malta.

VALLETTA (Malta), July 19 (Itar-Tass) - Participants of a naval
journey to mark the 90th anniversary of the exodus of the White Army from
Crimea paid tribute late on Sunday to the memory of their compatriots,
whose fate is connected with Malta.
Russian nationals and descendants of Russian emigrants took part in
the action. There were officers from the Kitoboy ship that called at the
port of Valletta in 1919 among the emigrants. The second Russian ship that
arrived in Malta during the exodus was the Zharkiy destroyer under command
of Lieutenant Manstein.
Participants of the naval journey visited a cemetery in Malta, where
several Russian people are buried. Princess Natalia Putyatina, who founded
the first ballet school in Malta, is buried there. Next to her grave is
the grave of historian Konstantin Voensky, who accompanied in Malta
members of the royal family in 1919.
The Russian delegation visited the chapel where the mother of the last
Russian emperor, Maria Fedorovna, prayed when she fled Crimea on a British
ship and stopped in Malta for two weeks.
Most residents of Malta are Catholics. In 2003, the first Orthodox
community was founded there. According to Sergei Medvedev from
Rossotrudnichestvo (Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent
States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian
Cooperation), there are about 150 people living in Malta in it. Most of
them are Russian women who married Maltese citizens.
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