Unauthorised rallies on New Year holidays to be suppressed-mayor.

MOSCOW, December 31 (Itar-Tass) - All the conditions will be created
during the New Year celebrations in Moscow for authorised public-political
actions, but unsanctioned actions will be severely suppressed, Moscow
mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Thursday at a meeting on security issued
held at the mayor's office.
"Regarding public socio-political events - our position on the rallies
and marches is simple and clear," he said. "All the needed conditions will
be created for the legitimate activities. Unsanctioned action will be
severely suppressed."
"It would very much want those who are going to resort to breaking the
law to think about the possible consequences of their actions and the
extent of their responsibility," said Sobyanin.
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.CIS free trade agreement to be signed first quarter of 2011-Lavrov.

MOSCOW, December 31 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov believes that the agreement on the free trade zone of the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will be signed in the first
quarter of next year.
According to him, Russia has attained concrete results in the CIS
space "where the considerable intensification of the cooperation processes
has been observed."
"We have been able to do most of the work on preparing the free trade
zone agreement. We hope that it will be signed during the first quarter of
next year," the RF foreign minister said in an interview to Rossiya 24
news television channel.
It is a new document to replace the previous agreement which had been
made more than 15 years ago and is "essentially obsolete." "So it will be
a significant result," Lavrov said.
"Clearly, the leaders of the integration processes in the post-Soviet
space continued to work actively within the Eurasian Economic Community
(EurAsEC); within the Customs Union they achieved breakthrough decisions
to create a unified economic space and in the future the Eurasian Union,"
the minister said.
"Similar in significance decisions were made within the Collective
Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), which will make it possible in the
future to increase its effectiveness in protecting the legitimate
interests and ensuring security of the organisation's member states," the
Russian foreign minister said.
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.Russia open to contacts with Georgian people - Lavrov.

MOSCOW, December 31 (Itar-Tass) - Russia is open to contacts with the
Georgian people, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on the
Rossiya 24 news television channel on Thursday.
"We understand that the Georgian people are a friendly nation, the
majority of Georgian citizens have the same attitude to the Russian
people. And we are open to contacts, which would allow people to feel some
relief," Lavrov said.
"I speak about the direct air service, as well as the opening of the
Verkhny Lars checkpoint, that has started functioning after repairs. We
want and are willing to act in such a way as to remove barriers to the
communication of our people," said the RF foreign minister.
"We did not sever diplomatic relations with Georgia, even after
President Saakashvili ordered an attack on South Ossetia. And also after
the attack was repulsed and stopped," said Lavrov.
"We hope that a day will come when the Georgian people themselves will
choose their leaders who care about the national interests of the state,
rather than about geopolitical games; leaders who are concerned about
relations with the neighbours, who will be able to build relations with
the neighbours based on mutual respect, equality and considering the
interests of all peoples who live in this region," the Russian diplomacy
head emphasised.
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.Putin signs govt resolution on Higher School of Economics reform.

MOSCOW, December 31 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin signed a government resolution on the transformation of the State
University - Higher School of Economics into an autonomous institution. He
said this at a meeting with the leadership of the university.
"I signed a government decree on the transformation of the Higher
School of Economics into autonomous institution," he said. "I congratulate
you on this event you have been waiting for." According to the prime
minister, the higher educational establishment "will get fundamentally new
opportunities in the sphere of management, organisation of educational
process and management of financial resources.
Until now, the Higher School of Economics was directly controlled by
the Russian government.
In addition, Putin proposed to create on the base of the Higher School
of Economics and the Russian Academy of Civil Service, "an independent
expert platform." "And during 2011 to jointly prepare for the next phase
of implementing the economic development strategy of Russia until 2020,"
he said.
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