Russia for negotiated solution to problems over Iran's n-program

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UNITED NATIONS, December 11 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia presses for the
solution of all problems surrounding Iran's nuclear program through a
dialogue and interaction with the Iranian side, Russia's deputy permanent
representative at the United Nations, Konstantin Dolgov, said at an open
meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday.
"The core of the Russian approach is the emphasis on negotiations, on
the diplomatic search for solutions, and on involving Iran in joint work
and full cooperation with the IAEA," he stressed. The Russian diplomat
said that "all members of the international community should strictly
follow Security Council resolutions that have established the regimen of
sanctions against Iran, and not to go beyond them."
Dolgov offered a positive evaluation of the December 6-7 meeting in
Geneva of the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy
Catherine Ashton and Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council
Saeed Jalili, also attended by the political directors of the sextet for
Iran's nuclear program.
"During the debate, resumed after a long break, the sides discussed in
depth issues of mutual concern, including the situation around the Iranian
nuclear program, as well as issues of global and regional security and of
strengthening the nonproliferation regimen," the Russian diplomat said.
"Steps have been identified for the further development of the dialogue
aimed at cooperation and search for common approaches," he added.
Russia believes it is important that in Geneva it was agreed "to hold
another meeting in Istanbul at the end of January next year."
"We hope that the negotiations will gain momentum and all parties
concerned will continue to cooperate in order to achieve an exclusively
peaceful, political settlement of the situation surrounding the Iranian
nuclear program," Dolgov said.

.Europe interested in Russia's atomic-propelled spacecraft project.

PARIS, December 11 (Itar-Tass) -- The European Space Agency (ESA)
shows great interest in the Russian project for creating a nuclear
propulsion system for spacecraft, the deputy chief of the federal space
agency Roscosmos, Sergei Saveliev, told Itar-Tass on the sidelines of the
inauguration of the world space Olympiad called Stellar Relay. The
Olympiad was launched on the eve of the forthcoming 50th anniversary of
the first-ever manned space flight by Yuri Gagarin.
According to the deputy head of the Russian space agency, "the
professionals understand that these are engines of the future, because
none of the existing technologies is capable of making a flight to Mars or
other planets." The idea of developing a nuclear propulsion system for
spacecraft has aroused certain interest in the U.S. and China, too, but
Roscosmos "is in no hurry to enter into cooperation with partners."
"This question requires a detailed study," Saveliev said. "There
should be no haste, but we will not procrastinate, either. The main thing
is to build an optimal scheme, to determine with whom and on what issues
we will cooperate."
In the other areas cooperation with European partners on space issues
has been developing actively, said Saveliev. The ISS remains the main
project. True, the ESA has not yet received confirmation from the
governments of all member states they support the extension of the station'
s life cycle till 2020, however, according to Saveliev, this issue may be
resolved next year, and it will be possible to start working on an
agreement regarding further cooperation under the ISS program. The ESA is
also very interested in increasing the number of its astronauts in the ISS
crews, but since the cessation of flights by space shuttles this question
depends on technical problems: either more Soyuz spacecraft should be
built (currently four of them are made a year), or seats vacated on board
the already made vehicles by reducing the number of Russian cosmonauts.
Active work is proceeding under the Soyuz project at Kourou. Saveliev
acknowledged that the date of the first launch "has been shifted to the
right." The Russian side is to finalize the launch facility at the end of
the first quarter of 2011. But so far no decision has been made regarding
the payload, that is, what kind of spacecraft the Russian carrier rocket
Soyuz will put in orbit from France's Kourou space site. The French
company Arianespace is responsible for looking for potential clients.
As for the rockets, one of the two delivered to Kourou has already
passed pre-launch tests, and early next year personnel will practice in
delivering and positioning the rocket at the launch pad without fueling,
Saveliev said.

.34,000 hectares of forest to be planted around Moscow over seven yrs.

MOSCOW, December 11 (Itar-Tass) -- Over the next seven years 34
thousand hectares of forest is to be planted around Moscow, which will
help restore the forest areas lost in last summer's wildfires, the deputy
head of the Federal Forestry Agency, Yevgeny Trunov, said, as he presented
the Moscow Region's forestation plan until 2018.
Trunov recalled that fires around Moscow destroyed 20 thousand
hectares of forest. Another 14 thousand hectares will be planted to
compensate for sanitary felling and thinning.
At the same time Trunov said that next year one should not expect
large-scale forest planting.
"To begin with we are to understand which trees have been affected,
and which, not. You can start cutting a tree, when you are sure it is
dead. But if the tree keeps growing, why killing it?" he said.

-0-str