Russian Center of Culture and Science to open in Belarus.

MINSK, November 23 (Itar-Tass) - An olden three-story mansion in the
downtown part of the Belarussian capital Minsk has turned into the Russian
Center of Culture and Science, which is due to open here Tuesday.
"The Center's doors will be open for everyone who may want to come
here," Farit Mukhametshin, the director of Russia's Federal Agency for
International Humanitarian Cooperation told Itar-Tass.
The objective of the new center is to provide more information on
Russia's life and its achievements in science, culture and education, he
said.
"We'll inform the public on new works of Russian literature and arts,
show new movies, and organize meetings with writers and actors,"
Mukhametshin said. "We'd like to make this center for all the Russians
living in Belarus and for all the Belarussian citizens. Let it be one more
bridge between Belarus and Russia."
Right after the gala opening, the Center will offer several
exhibitions. One of the is a display of books from the Alexander
Solzhenitsyn Center of Russian Emigration, and the other is a photo
exhibition devoted to the 50 years since the first manned flight into
space effectuated by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin April 12, 1961.
The State Russian Museum, which boasts one of the largest collections
of Russian art, will present there its new multimedia project - a digital
affiliation.
Also, the Center will have a digital reading room of the Boris Yeltsin
Presidential Library.
The Center's agenda for November also features a festival of Russian
literary writings dedicated to the 150th anniversary since the birth of
Anton Chekhov and a festival titled 'The Array of Russia's Languages.
According to Mukhametshin, the Center's staff will also give focus to
the promotion of scientific ties and innovative cooperation between Russia
and Belarus.

.Germany's former Chancellor calls for closer ties btw Europe, Russia.

BERLIN, November 23 (Itar-Tass) - Russia should be involved more
closely in the European organizations, Germany's former Federal Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder said Monday night as he spoke at a gala meeting devoted
to the 20 years since the start of cooperation between the Russian natural
gas producer Gazprom and the German corporation BASF.
Schroeder recalled that talks are underway right now on a new
cooperation agreement between the European Union and Russia. He said the
move is important but far from sufficient.
Russia should be more tightly bound to the EU, he said, adding that
the Europeans need Russia's involvement and liberalization of trade with
it ranging up to the emergence of a free trade zone, joint infrastructure
projects, simpler regulations for the issuance of travel visas on both
sides, and cooperation in the field of security.
Schroeder believes that this is the right way to achieve Russia's
modernization, as Russia will thus get closer to the European system of
values and law, while the European continent will build up its stability.
He stressed the central role that Russia plays in supplying energy
resources worldwide, calling it one of the crucial tasks, firstly, because
of the problem of access to energy resources and, secondly, because of the
ecological hazards of energy production.
For this end, the Europeans need a long-term consistent energy policy
aimed at resource saving, and this is possible only if accent is placed on
energy efficiency and the use of renewable sources of energy, Schroeder
said.
The right thing to do in this context is to continue expanding
partnership relations in the field of energy, and especially with Russia,
which is Europe's crucial partner, he indicated.
A close intertwining of this kind has significance for the economy and
for politics, as it creates trust, reliability and stability, Schroeder
said.

.Russian seaman wounded drng pirate assaults gets surgery in Nigeria.

VLADIVOSTOK, November 23 (Itar-Tass) - Cook of a Russian tanker who
received a gunshot wound during an assault on the ship by pirates has been
given a surgery in Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria, the press service
of the Novorossisk Shipping Line, which owns the NS Spirit food tanker,
said in a report Tuesday.
It suggested that the seaman is taking a course of treatment in an
intensive care ward now and physicians describe his status as stable.
Expert medical aid has also been given to the captain and two
crewmembers wounded during the incident.
The tanker has moved away from the coast and the shipping line is
preparing a partial replacement of the crew.
The captain, who suffered an arm fracture in addition to the wounds,
will be taken to Russia and the tanker will continue its scheduled cruise
after the replacement of some of the crew.
The press release also said that additional security measures have
been taken aboard.
Pirates attacked the NS Spirit overnight to November 22 at a distance
of 30 nautical miles off the Nigerian coast when it was en route to the
port of Lagos.
According to the captain, "about ten armed people got aboard an opened
fire from automatic submachine-guns" but the crewmembers managed to take
hiding.
The ship has a 22-strong all-Russian crew.
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