Grain interventions stabilise prices - Skrynnik.

PARIS, February 20 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's state trade interventions
are effective methods to stabilise prices in the grain market and a signal
to the national agricultural producers, which eliminates flurry, Russia's
Minister of Agriculture Elena Skrynnik told the Paris International
Agricultural Show (SIA) on Saturday.
"We make grain interventions and see certain stagnation and even
lowering market prices," she said. Over the first week of trades, prices
for grain lowered by 0.6 percent, and the average price reached
6,400-6,700 roubles per a tonne, which is by one thousand lower than the
market price. Every month, the government will sell 500,000 tonnes of
grain from the intervention fund.
A priority of Russia's agriculture is to restore and develop export of
grain, as well as export of poultry and pork.
"This is our basis target," Skrynnik said.
The concept for melioration to 2020 suggested by the ministry will
stabilise and develop production of grain, vegetables and feed, she added.


.Tourists refuse to go to Kab-Balkaria following Friday attack.

MOSCOW, February 20 (Itar-Tass) -- The flow of tourists from Moscow
planning a trip to Kabardino-Balkaria has dropped following the murder of
three Muscovites there, Press Secretary of Russia's union of tourist
industry Irina Tyurina told the Russian News Service radio station on
Saturday.
"After what happened yesterday, clients started to refuse from the
trips," she said. "We offer a direct bus from Moscow, and the number of
sold tickets is falling: we have between five and twenty passengers
instead of 50, and we are not sure if the next bus will ever go."
On Friday evening, on the Baksan-Azau federal highway in the Baksan
area at the entrance to the village of Zayukovo, unidentified persons
fired at a van with five tourists from Moscow and the Moscow Region. Three
people were killed, and two with gunshot wounds were taken to hospital.
"Unfortunately, it is not the first attack in the republic against
people who are absolutely not connected with law enforcement services or
power authorities. Furthermore, this time the victims are those arrived in
Kabardino-Balkaria on vacation. Our guests were killed. It is not just an
atrocious crime, it is also spitting in the face of all the people of
Kabardino-Balkaria, for whom the principles of hospitality are one of the
cornerstones of culture and the way of life", Kanokov was quoted by his
press service as saying.
"Both the republic's leadership and the law-enforcement system must
draw a conclusion from this case. We must make every effort to protect
tourists, ensure their safety during their holiday and not to endanger the
large-scale plans of the federal and local authorities to create a modern
recreation cluster in the region," he said.
He expressed his sincere condolences to the relatives of the killed,
assuring that "moral and material aid would be provided for their
families."
A source in the Russian Investigation Committee's office in
Kabardino-Balkaria said that in the shooting attack against a group of
tourists on the Baksan-Azau federal highway in the Baksan area at the
entrance to the village of Zayukovo, gunmen killed Denis Belokon, born in
1976, from the city of Moskovsky, the Moscow Region, Irina Patrusheva
(1973) from the same city and Vyacheslav Kara (1984) from Moscow.
Muscovites Sergei Yefremov, born in 1970, and Valery Belokon (1952)
have moderately severe wounds, a spokesman said.
Wounded Belokon told investigators that a black foreign-made car with
no number plates pressed the van with tourists to a side of the road and
forced it to stop. In the vehicle there were a driver and five tourists
who were on the way to the resort Elbrus area. Unknown masked men armed
with submachine guns demanded the tourists presented their identification
documents for checking. As the tourists wanted to see the documents of the
men in masks, they opened fire to kill the passengers.
The van driver, who was not hurt, called medics. The attackers
escaped. An official investigation into the case has been launched.


.Tourists not leaving Kabardino-Balkaria yet - Rostourism.

MOSCOW, February 20 (Itar-Tass) -- As yet there were no cases where
Russia's tourists left Kabardino-Balkaria early, but it is not possible to
rule out they may follow the murder of tourists from Moscow and the Moscow
Region, Head of Rostourism's press service Oleg Moseyev told Itar-Tass on
Saturday.
"Rostourism monitors the situation with tourists in
Kabardino-Balkaria," he said. "As yet, we have not fixed cases where they
leave the resort early, but we cannot rule out this may be expected."
"We follow the situation, and the organisation's statement is to
follow," he added.
Head of Rostourism, Alexander Radkov, said there would not be changes
to the programmes to develop tourism. Whatever possible changes may
concern improvement of tourists' safety only.
Earlier, Press Secretary of Russia's union of tourist industry Irina
Tyurina told the Russian News Service radio station that the flow of
tourists from Moscow planning a trip to Kabardino-Balkaria had dropped
following the murder of three Muscovites there.
"After what happened yesterday, clients started to refuse from the
trips," she said. "We offer a direct bus from Moscow, and the number of
sold tickets is falling: we have between five and twenty passengers
instead of 50, and we are not sure if the next bus will ever go."
On Friday evening, on the Baksan-Azau federal highway in the Baksan
area at the entrance to the village of Zayukovo, unidentified persons
fired at a van with five tourists from Moscow and the Moscow Region. Three
people were killed, and two with gunshot wounds were taken to hospital.

-0-kar