Patrol ship for Slovenia to be launched at Almaz Wed.

ST PETERSBURG, July 21 (Itar-Tass) - A patrol ship, Design 10412, of
Svetlyak (fire-fly) type, built by the Almaz (diamond) shipbuilding firm
under an order placed by the Republic of Slovenia, is to be launched at a
ceremony here on Wednesday. The ship is intended to see to the safety of
the Adriatic coast within the sea borders of Slovenia.
City government leaders and directors of shipbuilding enterprises have
been invited to attend the ceremony. Slovenian Defence Minister Ljubica
Jelusic is also expected to attend the ceremony.
Leonid Grabovets, general director of this joint-stock company, has
told Itar-Tass that two years ago the firm signed a contract for the
building of this ship. The keel of the ship was laid down in September of
the same year. The ship was devised by the Almaz central maritime design
bureau.
The ship has full-load displacement of 365 tonnes, is 49.5 metres
long, 9.2 metres wide, has a draught of 1.4 metres; the highest speed is
31 knots, sea endurance is ten days, and seaworthiness is 5-7 points. It
is for the first time that Almaz builds a ship of this design with
propulsion plants made by the German firm MTU.
Almaz currently proceeds with the construction of the second and third
artillery ships of Design 21630 for the Russian Navy, is about to complete
the construction of patrol boats of Design 12200 Sobol (sable) for the
border service of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), and builds a
border patrol boat of ice-breaking class, Design 22120, for the FSB border
service. The construction is being continued of a pilots launch, Design
AR-1600 for the Rosmorport Federal state unitary enterprise and of the
first serially produced border patrol boat of Design 22460 for Russian
border guards.
Throughout the existence of the enterprise, Almaz has built and handed
over more than 1,000 boats and small craft to customers.

.Abkhazia, S Ossetia, Nicaragua to sign important documents.

MEXICO CITY, July 21 (Itar-Tass) - A number of important documents
concerning the development of relations with Nicaragua are to be signed by
the leaders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Eduard Kokoity and Sergei
Bagapsh, who are currently in that Central American country on a visit at
the invitation of President Daniel Ortega.
Sources at the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry told Itar-Tass by telephone
from Managua on Tuesday that the delegations of the two sides had
completed work on preparation of agreements.
During the talks, government officials from the Transcaucasian
republics, who are accompanying Kokoity and Bagapsh, considered bilateral
cooperation-related matters. The prepared documents are to be signed
shortly during President Ortega's meeting with the leaders of South
Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Abkhazia is expected to sign treaties on friendship and cooperation
and on visa-free travel. The sides have prepared agreements on economic
interaction, transportation by air, merchant shipping, and a Memorandum of
Understanding between the Central banks of the two republics.
For its part, South Ossetia intends to sign a Joint Declaration with
Nicaragua. In the Declaration the sides will reaffirm their readiness for
a further development of relations. Prepared for signature are also a
treaty of friendship and economic cooperation, and an agreement on
visa-free travel between the two countries.
Kokoity and Bagapsh arrived in Managua at the end of last week. Within
the framework of the visit they took part in a rally of many thousands of
people in the Nicaraguan capital on Monday on the occasion of the 31st
anniversary of the Sandinista revolution's victory over the dictatorship
of Anastasio Somoza. The leaders of the Transcaucasian republics made
working trips to Nicaragua's western department of Leon.
On September 5, 2008, President Ortega signed decrees on the
establishment of full diplomatic relations with Abkhazia and South
Ossetia. Earlier this month Nicaragua's ambassadors presented their
credentials to the leaders of the two Transcaucasian republics.
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