Int`l conf on curbing drug trafficking to open in Strasbourg.

STRASBOURG, November 3 (Itar-Tass) - A widely representative
international conference on counteraction to the spread of narcotics opens
here on Wednesday.
The conference has been organized by the Pompidou Group, a special
coordinating body of the Council of Europe. A Russian delegation at the
forum is led by Viktor Ivanov, Director of the Federal Drug Control
Service.
Pompidou Group chief Patrick Penninckx has told Itar-Tass that lately
Russian authorities had considerably intensified efforts towards
interaction with the Council of Europe on this problem. He said heroin
from Afghanistan poses a serious threat to Russia. The Group is ready to
render assistance in refining legislation, in introducing innovative
technologies, and in working out practical drug control programmes.
Penninckx pointed out that special attention at the conference would
be devoted to measures to enhance customs and police control and that it
is essential to develop cooperation with Central Asia countries for the
eradication of this scourge.
Those present are expected to approve a programme for the Group's work
in the period ending in 2014, and announce the names of winners of the
European prize for work to prevent drug addiction.
The Pompidou Group currently comprises 35 countries, including Russia.
Founded in 1971 on the initiative of the then French President Georges
Pompidou, this commission has become the coordinator of actions at the
all-European level to curb drug addiction.

.Lavrov, Rasmussen to discuss coop'n in Afghanistan, ABM.

MOSCOW, November 3 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs
Sergei Lavrov meets here Wednesday with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh
Rasmussen, who arrived in the Russian capital on Tuesday, to discuss
preparations for the forthcoming Russia-NATO Council summit, due to be
held in Lisbon on November 20. That will be the first RF-NATO summit since
the August 2008 tragedy in the Transcaucasus.
Principal matters that Rasmussen intends to consider in Moscow include
preparation for the forthcoming summit, the deepening of cooperation on
Afghanistan, specifically drug control, expansion of transit for coalition
forces across the territory of the Russian Federation, and the so-called
helicopter dossier --terms for the provision of helicopters for the Afghan
army by Russia.
The sides are actively to discuss the joint analysis by the Alliance
and Russia of threats to security in the 21st century. The results of the
analysis are to be presented at the Lisbon summit. The forthcoming
discussion will cover the broadest spectrum of subjects, including
counterterrorism, fight against sea piracy, and non-proliferation issues.
Lavrov pointed out that Russia's participation in the establishment of
a European anti-missile defense system would be one of key subjects of
discussion at the upcoming talks. "We'd like to get more information
before the summit as to how NATO visualizes Russia's participation in such
a system," the Minister said.
Analysts recall that Rasmussen had repeatedly stated that at the
summit in Lisbon the Alliance must decide on the establishment of a NATO
territorial ABM system with Russia's participation. He maintains that "An
ABM system must unite us, not disunite, and this shield is wide enough to
cover everyone.
The Kremlin press service announced that Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev would receive the NATO chief.

.Air-cushion motorship to begin to ply Lake Baikal in '11.

IRKUTSK, November 3 (Itar-Tass) - A new passenger air-cushion
motorship Barguzin is to begin to ply on Lake Baikal in the 2011
navigation season. The name Barguzin may apply to Barguzin River and a
steady local north-western wind on Baikal.
An official at the management office of the Eastern Siberia river
shipping company has told Itar-Tass, "To be exact, the name of the new
motorship will be Barguzin-3."
A series of five ships of special type for Baikal was laid down way
back at the turn of the 1980-1990s. At that time two of them were built.
The new Barguzin, unlike the older vessels that continue to ply the
Lake, has two decks. One houses a passenger saloon for 120 seats and the
other is intended for recreation and observation.
The 70-tonne ship was made in Nizhny Novgorod in 2008. It took the
ship almost two years to get to its destination -- Irkutsk Region. The
ship set out from Nizhny Novgorod under its own steam heading for
Akhangelsk, from which it was brought via the Arctic Ocean to the port of
Tiksi near the mouth of the Lena River. Over there, the ship spent the
winter and on the next year reached the city of Ust-Kut, Irkutsk Region.
However, owing to shallow water, the ship again had to spend winter in the
upper reaches of the Lena. The ship at last arrived in Irkutsk only in
summer this year. At first the ship was delivered by a trailer and then
sailed along the Angara River.
The Barguzin-3 will ply along the most popular Baikal routes --
Irkutsk-Bolshiye Koty, and Irkutsk-Bukhta Peschanaya (sand bay). However,
it is not ruled out that the geography of its local cruises will gain in
scope to include calls at Olkhon Island and even Ust - Barguzin settlement
on the eastern shore of Lake Baikal, the official at the management office
pointed out.
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