Search for missing sailors from Alexandra brings no results.

VLADIVOSTOK, February 20 (Itar-Tass) -- The search operation for
missing Russian sailors from the Alexandra motor ship, which sank off the
coast of South Korea shore, did not bring any positive results.
On January 9, the Alexandra motor ship, deadweight of 2,150 tonnes,
with a cargo of timber left Nakhodka port for Japan. From Japan the vessel
headed for China. The ship sent no distress signal.
Korean rescuers found two rafts at the wreck site. A sailor was on one
of the rafts, while the other one was empty. According to the Far Eastern
regional organisation of the Russian Seafarers' Union, the sailor is
33-year-old Ruslan Drichev, resident of Primorye. Four bodies have been
found and identified. There were 12 crewmen on board the Alexandra.
Ship owner's agent reports that a South Korean ship was on a test run
in that area at the time of the shipwreck. According to the agent "there
is a possibility that the ship could have collided with the Alexandra,
which wrecked as a result of the collision".
The Alexandra belonged to the Amur Inland Navigation Company, and was
leased to the Rawley Group LTD Company from Khabarovsk.
The motor ship was built in 1984, her deadweight is 2,150 tonnes, the
Far Eastern Regional Organisation of the Russian Seafarers' Union reported.
Five South Korean helicopters and 15 different vessels took part in
the search for missing Russian sailors from the Alexandra motor ship.


.Kudrin grateful to volunteers following up state purchases site.

KRASNOYARSK, February 20 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's Deputy Prime
Minister, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin expressed gratitude to the
conscientious citizens who study the portal of state purchases and spot
suspicious information there.
"I am grateful to civil organisations and to those who revise the
information," he said on Saturday. "I follow up the feedback and see much
of interest, even in my ministry."
He told reporters that usually he highlights necessary passages and
forwards them to the ministries mentioned.
"I take cautiously the figure of one trillion roubles /expert
estimation of corruption caused losses/, it is not easy to label
everything as stealing," he continued saying that most suspicious
purchases cannot be qualified as stealing both from the legal and the
actual points of view. The Accounting Chamber usually characterises such
cases as misaplication of funds, he said and gave an example, where an
authority "uses the money, allocated for a new desk, to clear the roof."
Kudrin agreed it necessary to improve effectiveness of state
purchases, and the new portal's input is big. Starting from the current
year, Russia's all ministries and authorities must place their tenders on
the state purchases' portal.


.Russia may have diamonds exchange - Finance Ministry.

KRASNOYARSK, February 20 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's Finance Ministry
considers organising a diamonds exchange, Deputy Prime Minister, Finance
Minister Alexei Kudrin said on the sidelines of the Krasnoyarsk economic
forum on Saturday.
"The ministry considers the idea now, anyway it is our
responsibility," he said.
Before a decision is made, it would be "necessary to see if the
market" assuring its liquidity exists, he said. "As of now I doubt there
are enough reasons for it and we continue to consider the question."


.Target inflation of 7pct is complicated to achieve - Kudrin.

KRASNOYARSK, February 20 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's Deputy Prime
Minister, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin realises the risks of inflation's
monetary factors and doubts the inflation forecast of seven percent in
2011 is realistic.
Higher food prices are the main reason of the inflation growth, he
said on the sidelines of the Krasnoyarsk economic forum on Saturday.
"We have another risk: we may lose control over the inflation's
monetary factors," he said. Minding this risk, the government made a
decision not to use all extra revenues from export of oil and gas for
budget purposes.
"I believe, this decision made by the president and prime minister, is
very important and correct," Kudrin said expressing confidence that the
measure would lower the inflation which had speeded up in the beginning of
the year.
"We do not refuse from our target as far as the inflation is
concerned," he said. "But, I believe, it would be very complicated to make
it seven percent over this year."

.About 71 pct Japanese disapprove of Tokyo's S Kuril talks approach.
20/2 Tass 8
TOKYO, February 20 (Itar-Tass) -- Almost 71 percent Japanese do not
approve of the present government's approach to negotiations with Russia
on the South Kuril Islands. Japan's Sankei daily published results of a
survey it had conducted on February 12-13. The experts used a computer
programme of random calls to a representative choice of gender and age and
learned views of 1,000 Japanese across that country.
According to the survey, only 13 percent approve of the approach of
Naoto Kan's government to negotiations with Russia. At the same time, 70.8
percent expressed disapproval of Tokyo's position at the discussions about
the South Kuril Islands.
The researchers learned that almost every second respondent supports
the demand "to return at a time all the Northern Territories," as the
South Kuril Islands are called in Japan. However, this position got
support from 51.3 respondents. The other half supports the idea that Tokyo'
s current position at the negotiations should be reconsidered.
The newspaper reports that 26.1 percent would like to have the
Shikotan and Khabomai islands first, leaving the issue of the bigger
islands, Iturup and Kunashir, for later. In 1956, the Soviet Union
expressed readiness to give to the neighbour Shikotan and Khabomai as a
sign of good will to follow signing of the peace agreement. The survey
shows that 10.5 percent support the idea to divide the islands equally
between Russia and Japan, while 4.3 percent do not demand back even a part
of the islands, and, at last, slightly under eight percent claim to be
unaware of the problem.
The newspaper organised the survey immediately after the scandalous
comments of Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan where he calls as
"unforgivable rudeness" the trip of Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev to
the south Kuril Islands. Medvedev was Russia's first top leader to visit
the islands. On February 7, following the straightforward statement of
Japan's head of the government, activists of ultra right organisations
gathered for loud demonstrations by Russia's Embassy in Tokyo, where they
defaced Russia's flag. Following the incident, Japan's Foreign Minister
Seiji Maehara had negotiations in Moscow, which demonstrated complete
disagreement between the sides on the South Kuril Islands.
-0-kar