PM Putin to discuss liquidation of drought consequences.

MOSCOW, November 29 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin will hold a telephone conference in the government's Situation
Centre on Monday to discuss how the aftermaths of this year's drought are
being liquidated. Taking part in the conference will be the heads of
several drought-stricken regions, the speakers of legislative assemblies
of Russian regions and territories and representatives of professional
associations of agricultural producers, the Russian government press
service reports.
One of the main objectives of the teleconference will be to monitor
how the state subsidies are being distributed among agricultural producers
who were hit by the drought.
The Russian government's aide package provided for the allocation of
35 billion roubles in the form of budget credits and 10 billion roubles in
the form of donations to the constituent entities of the Russian
Federation.
Other measures designed to help drought-stricken farmers include the
prolongation of credits, leasing payments and reduction of railway tariffs
to transport grain, milling products and meal.

. Relatives of Nevsky Express blast victims to hold commemorations.

BOLOGOYE, the Tver region, November 29 (Itar-Tass) - Relatives of 27
passengers who died in the Nevsky Express train blast on November 27 last
year will gather for a commemorations ceremony on Monday. It will be held
on the 284th kilometre of the Alyoshinka-Uglovka span near Bologoye.
Representatives of the Oktyabrskaya Railway and local residents will also
be present at the memorial service. They will lay flowers and wreaths at a
memorial wooden cross that was erected on the initiative of Bologoye
railway workers.
Trains that passed the place of the tragedy on the blast's anniversary
last Saturday gave long whistles that meant: "We remember, we are
grieving."
Russian security services quickly traced a terrorist group related to
the train blast. They detained ten active terrorists during an anti-terror
operation near Ekazhevo settlement in the Nazran district of Ingushetia
early in March last year. Another eight militants who put up armed
resistance were killed. Among them was Sayed Buryatsky (Alexander
Tikhomirov), an ideologist of extremism in the North Caucasus. The Federal
Security Service director, Alexander Bortnikov, said after the operation
that Russian security services had found an underground laboratory that
produced self-made bombs and confiscated more than a ton of explosives. At
present, the security services have eliminated 26 members of the terrorist
group that blew up the Nevsky Express train and has staged other terrorist
acts.
Investigation into the Nevsky Express blast will continue until next
March.
Vladimir Markin, an Investigative Committee representative, told
Itar-Tass that ten people were being kept in custody. "They are Zelimkhan
Aushev and nine members of the Kartoyev family who are close relatives.
Investigators are establishing the degree of involvement and the role of
each detainee in the train blast and other crimes.

. Russia to support restoration of Orthodox monuments in Kosovo.

PARIS, November 29 (Itar-Tass) - Russia will allocate funds for the
restoration of Orthodox monuments in Kosovo under an agreement to be
signed at the UNESCO's Paris-based headquarters on Monday. The Russian
government will contribute two million dollars on a voluntary basis in
2010-2011.
Under an agreement with the Serbian side and the UNESCO, four
monuments of Orthodox architecture, included in the UNESCO World Heritage
List, will undergo renovation. They include the Monastery of the
Patriarchate of Pec, the Decani and Gracanica monasteries and the Church
of Our Lady of Leviska.
The restoration works will be carried out as part of UNESCO's
international action to render humanitarian assistance to the Republic of
Serbia in the restoration and preservation of cultural landmarks damaged
during military hostilities in Kosovo.
Protection of cultural monuments is one of UNESCO's main objectives.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) was set up after World War II. At present, 200 states are its
members. In June 2010, 187 UNESCO member-countries ratified a convention
on the protection of world cultural and natural heritage.

. Moldovan communists leading in parliamentary elections.

CHISINAU, November 29 (Itar-Tass) - Moldova's Communist Party is
leading in the early parliamentary elections held on Sunday after 15% of
the votes have been counted, Yuri Chokan, the secretary of Moldova's
Central Electoral Commission, told Itar-Tass.
Parties forming the ruling coalition are coming next. They include the
Liberal Democratic Party - 23.6%, the Democratic Party - 13.5% and the
Liberal Party - 6.8%.
The rest of the parties have failed to pass a 4-percent vote threshold.

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