Iran's nuclear program should be transparent- Kosachev.

.

MOSCOW, September 28 (Itar-Tass) - Konstantin Kosachev, the head of
the foreign affairs committee of the Russian State Duma, said on Monday
that Iran's nuclear program should be absolutely transparent if Iran
wanted to resume cooperation with Russia.
"The situation with Iran is quite complicated for Moscow. This is a
situation when we have to choose the least of the two evils and when there
is no option that fully meets our interests," Kosachev said in an
exclusive interview.
"The Russian president is making the right choice. If commercial
benefits and contractual obligations are to be put on scales together with
political interests and security matters, the choice is absolutely
evident," Kosachev went on to say.
"There cannot be exclusively mercantile interests here. We should
proceed from long-term national interests," the deputy added.
"I am not ready to dramatize this situation. It's clear that we are
expecting a reaction from Iran Russia believes that Tehran may undertake
some legal actions but they are going to be one-time rather than
systemic," Kosachev explained.
"But this reaction will not bring about a breakdown in Russian-Iranian
relations. Anyway, Russia doesn't have this intention," Kosachev went on
to say.
"We continue regarding Iran as a powerful partnership state in many
spheres, particularly in trade and economy. I think that Iran, for its
part, is also limited in choosing strategic partners. If Iran continues
worsening its conflict with Russia, it will commit a strategically
unpardonable action against itself," the Russian deputy emphasized.
Kosachev believes that Iran should have been more cooperative with the
U.N. Security Council and the IAEA. He said that Iran and Moscow could
continue building up foreign trade if Iran understood that its political
line was wrong, revised its strategy and started cooperation with the
international community.
"The strategy should consist exactly in convincing Iran that
full-scale cooperation is, first and foremost, in its own interests,"
Kosachev concluded.

. WTO member-states support Russia's subsidies to agriculture.

GENEVA, September 28 (Itar-Tass) - The world's leading agricultural
producers have supported Russia's plan to subsidies its agriculture at a
level of nine billion dollars a year, Russian Agriculture Minister Yelena
Skrynnik told Itar-Tass on Monday.
She had met representatives of the Kern Group of agrarian exporters as
part of consultations on Russia's accession to the WTO. The Kern Group
comprises Australia, Argentina, Brazil, New Zealand, Paraguay, Pakistan,
Thailand, the Philippines, etc.
"The Kern Group's ambassadors supported our position and assessed it
positively," Skrynnik said. She explained that there were three main items
of the Russian stance: fixed commitments to maintain agricultural
subsidies at a level of nine billion dollars a year since the date of
accession to the WTO; a fixed schedule of reducing subsidies and
non-application of export subsidies since the date of accession.
Apart from that, Skrynnik held a meeting with representatives of the
U.S. delegation who also supported Russia's position and said they were
ready to support Russia 's bid to join the WTO.
Negotiations to work out Russia's final obligations for granting state
subsidies to agriculture after joining the WTO will be held at a level of
experts in Geneva late in October.
Experts believe that agriculture remains one of the main disputable
issues on Russia's way to the WTO. Other problem issues are export duties,
the size of state subsidies to enterprises and the protection of
intellectual property.

. Moldovan murder suspects arrested in Egypt.

CHISINAU, September 28 (Itar-Tass) - Egypt has officially confirmed
the arrest of 10 Moldovan nationals suspected of killing a Bedouin, a
source at the Moldovan Ministry for Foreign Affairs and European
Integration told journalists on Monday.
Moldova is planning to send a special envoy to Cairo who will
cooperate with the Egyptian authorities on this case and will render legal
and consular assistance to the Moldovan nationals.
Earlier media reports said that Egyptian policemen had arrested 16
illegal immigrants from Moldova, including four women, on September 12.
The Moldovans are suspected of killing a 33-year-old Bedouin guide, Masud
Salim, who promised to take them to Israel.
There are two main theories. It's either that Salim asked for a very
high price for his services or tried to rape a Moldovan woman. The
quarrel ended with the guide's murder. According to Egyptian laws, the
suspects are facing a death penalty.

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