Belarus CEC calls dispersion of rally as 'defence of homeland'.

MINSK, December 20 (Itar-Tass) -- Chairwoman of the Belarusian Central
Election Commission Lidia Yermoshina called a police operation to break up
an opposition rally in downtown Minsk as "the defence of the homeland."
"This is the defence of our homeland rather than a tough dispersion,"
the CEC chairwoman said. "May be, it looked like a tough dispersion on the
television, as nothing threatened to you," Yermoshina told a journalist,
who asked for an assessment of the disorders. "Civilians, particularly
ordinary women, were inside this building, while a furious mob was
fighting to get inside," she noted.
"As far as international observers are concerned all that happened at
the previous elections has no bearing on the voting procedure, because it
did not affect the suffrage," Yermoshina underlined.

.RF embassy keeps in constant contact with North Korea authorities.

PYONGYANG, December 20 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's Embassy in the North
Korean capital "works in the routine mode," Russian Ambassador in
Pyongyang Valery Sukhinin told Itar-Tass on Monday.
"The embassy is keeping in a constant contact with the North Korean
authorities and is following closely the situation on the Korean
Peninsula," the diplomat said.
"We hope that the measures taken by Russia in Moscow, New York and the
capitals of the countries concerned will yield necessary results and the
situation on the peninsula will be stabilized," Sukhinin added.

.Medvedev to pay official visit to India.

MOSCOW, December 20 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
will go on an official visit to India on Monday. For two days the
president will visit New Delhi, Agra and Mumbai, where he will not only
hold several negotiations, but will also visit the Taj Mahal mausoleum,
which is one of the Wonders of the World and a UNESCO World Heritage site,
and the Bollywood film industry.
This will be Medvedev's second official visit to India after the first
one in December 2008. Annual mutual visits of the leaders of the countries
turned into a tradition in Russian-Indian relations. The major
negotiations are scheduled for Tuesday, when the Russian leader will meet
with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Foreign Minister Somanahalli
Krishna, President Pratibha Patil, Vice-President Mohammad Ansari,
President of the Indian National Congress Party Sonia Gandhi and the
opposition leader in the lower house of Indian parliament Sushma Swaraj.
On the same day the countries are to sign several agreements, the leaders
of the countries will give a press conference and will meet with Russian
and Indian business quarters.
On Tuesday morning the Russian president will go to Agra, where he
will visit a famous mausoleum Taj Mahal. Mughal emperor Shah Jahan has
built the white domed marble Taj Mahal in Agra in memory of his third wife
Mumtaz Mahal in the 17th century. Five million tourists visit the Taj
Mahal mausoleum annually.
Then Medvedev will go to the Indian megapolis Mumbai. The Russian
president will be received at the Indian Technological Institute and the
Bollywood film industry. A world-wide known Indian film industry has
brought about in Mumbai at the beginning of the 20th century and now
turned in the Bollywood dream film industry.
"For the last ten years Russian-Indian relations were brought to an
absolutely new level that can be described as privileged strategic
partnership, and this formula will be fixed in a joint statement that is
to be issued at the summit," Russian presidential aide Prikhodko said.
This level of relation "envisages close coordination, which is based on
long-standing traditions of friendship, between the countries of their
foreign political approaches on a broad range of international and
regional problems, large-scale trade and economic cooperation, including
the modernization and the introduction of high technologies, broader
military-technical cooperation and intensive cultural ties and human
contracts," he noted.
"Russia and India traditionally attach major importance to bilateral
cultural exchanges," the Russian presidential aide said. He emphasized
that during Medvedev's forthcoming visit the countries "are to sign an
agreement on the Festival of Indian Culture in Russia in 2011 and the
Festival of Russian Culture in India in 2012."
Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov,
Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko, Central Elections
Commission Chairman Vladimir Churov, Rostechnologii chief Sergei Chemezov,
Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko, director of the Federal Service for
Military-Technical Cooperation Mikhail Dmitriyev and chief of the Federal
Migration Service Konstantin Romodanovsky will accompany the Russian
president. The Russian delegation also includes RusHydro CEO Yevgeny Dod,
RUSAL CEO Oleg Deripaska, AFK Sistema CEO Vladimir Yevtushenkov,
Rosoboronexport chief Anatoly Isaykin, Sukhoi Company Director General
Mikhail Pogosyan, RUSNANO chief Anatoly Chubais, KAMAZ Director General
Sergei Kogonin, RENOVA Group Board Chairman Viktor Vekselberg and other
officials.
-0-baz


Delete & Prev | Delete & Next
Move