ROME – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will go to Italy on a two-day working visit to take part in the festivities devoted to the 150th anniversary of Italy’s unification. During his visit he will hold talks with his Italian counterpart Giorgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
PRIME MINISTER – HEALTHCARE
MOCOW – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will take part in a ceremony marking the completion of the construction of the federal scientific and clinical centre for child haematology, oncology and immunology. He will meet with Russian and foreign specialists in this sector.
CANADA-RUSSIA
OTTAWA – Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov will visit Canada to take part in a meeting of the Canada-Russian Business Council.
SITUATION IN ARAB COUNTRIES
CAIRO – Libya’s capital and its outskirts were again bombarded by the NATO forces late on Tuesday. According to the Libyan news agency, the air strikes were targeted at infrastructure facilities.
MOSCOW – South African President Jacob Zuma had a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev about his mission to Libya and his meeting with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
JAPAN-SITUATION
TOKYO – Japan’s government will spend up to 20 trillion yens (245 billion dollars) to dismantle the reactors of Japan’s damaged Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant and to pay compensations for people evacuated from the adjacent area within a radius of 20 kilometres.
TOKYO – Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan confirmed that his country has no plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the accident at Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant.
TOKYO – A new earthquake measuring 5 points on the Richter scale rocked north-eastern region of Honshu. There is no tsunami threat.
STATE DUMA
MOSCOW – At its plenary session the State Duma will consider in the first reading a draft law on improving state administration in anti-corruption activities submitted by the president and in the second final reading a draft law toughening responsibility for paedophilia. The head of the federal service for environmental, technological and nuclear supervision, Nikolai Kutyin, was invited to the session.
TALKS BETWEEN CHIEFS OF RUSSIAN AND SERBIAN ARMY GENERAL STAFFS
MOSCOW – The chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General Nikolai Makarov, will meet with his Serbian counterpart Miloje Miletic to discuss military and technical cooperation. He heads the Serbian military delegation to Russia.
REGIONAL COMMONWEALTH IN THE FIELD OF COMMUNICATIONS
YEREVAN – Russian Communications Minister Igor Shchegolev will chair the meeting of the council of the heads of communication administrations of the Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications that will focus on satellite communication development and cooperation in telecommunications.
LEVITIN’S VISIT TO SVERDLOVSK REGION
YEKATERINBURG – Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin will unveil a centre for training Olympic ping-pong teams in the village of Baltym, the Sverdlovsk region.
STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP 1520 FORUM
SOCHI – The international rail business forum “1520 Strategic Partnership” opens in Russia’s Black Sea resort. The Russian delegation will be led by the president of the Russian Railways Company (RZD), Vladimir Yakunin.
FORUM OF RUSSIAN AND POLISH REGIONS
MOSCOW – The third forum of Russian and Polish regions devoted to cooperation in innovations will be co-chaired by the first deputy speaker of the Federation Council, Alexander Torshin, and Polish Senate Marshal Bogdan Borusewicz.
COLLECTIVE SECURITY TREATY ORGANIZATION – MEETING
MINSK – Security Council secretaries of the CSTO member-states will discuss cooperation in counteracting modern challenges and threats.
PORTUGAL-RUSSIA
LISBON – Portugal’s capital is hosting the eighth congress of the European Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI). The head of the Russian delegation, chief auditor Sergei Stepashin will give an interview to Itar-Tass on the forum’s results.
THE UNITED NATIONS – CONFERENCE
GENEVA – The 100th International Labour Conference will address the need for a new era of social justice in the wake of recent economic and jobs crises.
THE UNITED NATIONS – SPACE
VIENNA – The 54th session of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) opens in the Austrian capital to mark the 50th anniversary of the committee.
US-SPACE
NEW YORK – Space Shuttle Endeavour will land at Cape Canaveral, Florida, after a 16-day mission to the International Space Station. It is expected to land at 02:35 pm ET.
BRITAIN-CYBERCRIME
LONDON – The British capital will host the second Cybercrime Security Forum.
INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S DAY
MOSCOW – A wonderland for children will be opened near the president’s residence in Gorky.
MOSCOW – Participants in the international festival Moscow Meets Friends will devote their performance at Moscow International House of Music to the International Children’s Day.
SPORTS
ZURICH – The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) will elect its new president during the 61st FIFA Congress. The incumbent FIFA President Sepp Blatter, 75, is the only candidate for the post.
PARIS – Russia’s Maria Sharapova will play against Andrea Petkovic of Germany at Roland Garros quarterfinals.
CULTURE
NEW YORK – The annual festival of Russian culture “Our Heritage” opens in New York.
AT ITAR-TASS
MOSCOW – A news conference devoted to the international museum festival Intermuseum 2011 will take place at the Itar-Tass news agency (2, Tverskoy Boulevard, 2nd floor) at 12:00.
MOSCOW – A news conference devoted to the results of participation of Russia’s winemaking companies in The London International Wine Fair 2011 in London.
Jun 6: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to hold meeting with Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
Jun 7: Committee on Russian–Ukrainian economic cooperation to hold meeting
Jun 9–10: Russia–European Union Summit to take place in Nizhny Novgorod
Kremlin says ready for dialog with all Libyan forces, except futureless
Medvedev Says Discussed Libya With Zuma, Need for Talks With ‘All Forces’
Russian FM says compromise possible between Tripoli and Benghazi
Russia joins West over Libya for interests - by Zheng Haoning, Igor Serebryany, Feng Kang
Medvedev to attend ceremonies in Rome, meet Napolitano - Scheduled for Thursday are Medvedev's meeting with Silvio Berlusconi, Chairman of Italy's Council of Ministers, as well as their working luncheon in which US Vice-President Joseph Biden will participate. Mr. Biden is representing the United States at the celebration ceremonies. Xi Jinping, Vice-President of the People's Republic of China, will be yet another interlocutor of Medvedev on Thursday.
Russia-Italy cross-cultural year helps to boost bilateral ties-envoy.
China, Russia to boost energy cooperation
China Oil Debt Partially Paid
Zubkov in Canada to discuss bilateral econ, trade interaction - Zubkov is to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Senate Speaker Noel Kinsella, and hold talks with Canadian International Trade Minister Edward Fast, who co-chairs the Intergovernmental Economic Commission (IEC) on the Canadian side, and Gerry Ritz, Canadian Minister of Agriculture.
Russia, NATO to hold first joint aerial anti-terror drill - The drill, entitled Watchful Sky 2011, will be held in early June, and will involve Russian and NATO fighter jets. The participants will be drilling the urgent exchange of information in case of a terrorist act, and the joint interception of suspicious aircraft.
Georgia-Russia WTO talks postponed - Switzerland has delayed the latest round of Russian-Georgian negotiations on Russia's entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Details for WTO Entry Due in June - Russia must announce in June how it will end a raft of protectionist measures if it wants to join the World Trade Organization this year, the diplomat vetting Russia's entry to the trade body said Tuesday.
Greece says South Stream pipeline project with Russia priority - Greek Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Konstantina Birbili said at a meeting with South Stream project CEO Marcel Kramer that "the Greek government considers South Stream one of its priority energy projects, which enhance energy security by diversifying delivery routes."
Russia, Serbia top military officials to discuss stronger relations - “The chiefs of the two countries’ army general staffs will discuss the state of and prospects for military and technical cooperation, will exchange experience of reforming the national armed forces and consider issues of mutual interest,” the press service of Russia’s Defence Ministry told Itar-Tass.
Russia’s defence minister to visit Serbia before yearend
Secretaries of CSTO Security Councils to meet in Minsk Wed.
Integration of Eurasia railways to be discussed at Sochi forum.
Innovations, hi-tech to be discussed at RF-Poland forum of regions.
Rails, Uranium Mark Mongolian Visit
Russian-Mongolian uranium efforts deepen
Slain five were not Chechen, says Russian official - “Four of the five persons appear to be Russian nationals and one of them looks like a Tajik. They are not Chechens”.
Russia's ruling party seeks state board posts-paper: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's ruling party has proposed its own candidates chair the boards of state-controlled companies such as InterRAO and RusHydro, the Vedomosti newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Government reshuffles power companies' boards
Suspected killer of journalist on wanted list since 1997 - The suspected killer of Novaya Gazeta observer Anna Politkovskaya has been on the wanted list since 1997, a Moscow law-enforcement source told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.
Politkovskaya murder suspect arrest – only one step towards solving crime
Man suspected of killing Ossetian poet belonged to radical Islamic group
Prosecutors to check all Magnitsky-related criminal cases
Post-graduates not be called up for military service – defence ministry.
Russian president’s human rights council meets in Makhachkala.
Putin to tour child hematology center in Moscow Wed
Tangible hope – new top-notch hospital for cancer kids
Court orders to recover 21 mln rbls in damages from officials.
Moscow to double city doctors' salaries by 2016
Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - June 1
RIA Russian Press at a Glance, Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Itar-Tass news digest for Wednesday, June 1.
Shortest Route From China to Russia Is Via EU - By Vladislav Inozemtsev
Kiev’s nuclear hint to Moscow - Ukraine and China are making arrangements for the use of the peaceful atom. By Tatiana Ivzhenko (Kiev)
Who needs a free Khodorkovsky? - Former Yukos head may be awaited by Dmitry Medvedev and Mikhail Prokhorov. By Zhanna Ulyanova
Auditor Says $71M Misspent in State Tenders - By Natalya Krainova