Medvedev, Gonzalez to discuss RF-EU partnership Tue.

MOSCOW, February 9 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
meets with Felipe Gonzalez Marquez, Chairman of the Group of Wise Men
(GWM) of the European Union, here on Tuesday.

The presidential press service reported, "The agenda of the meeting
between the Russian president and the chairman of the Group of Wise Men
includes issues of Russia-EU partnership in the solution of the global
problems of contemporaneity, Medvedev's initiative to conclude a European
security treaty, visa-free mutual trips by Russian and EU citizens, and
issues of the institutional development of the European Union. These
issues will be reviewed in association with the strategy of Russia's
economic development until 2020 and the strategy of the EU's development
in the period from 2010 to 2020."
The GWM mandate focuses on matters concerning the socio-economic
development of the EU and the ensurance of its security (in a broad
understanding of the term, including sufficiency in energy resources,
efforts to combat organized crime, counterterrorist activities, etc).
The following eight clusters of issues were agreed upon: analysis of
the general political context; European identity; European socio-economic
model; energy, climate, and environmental protection; demographic
challenges; internal and external aspects of security; the EU's role in
the world; and EU and its citizens.
The text of the GWM final reports is to be presented at a meeting of
the European Council in June 2010.

.Putin tours Ufa-based major transformer-making plant.

UFA, February 9 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
on Monday toured the Ufa-based transformer-making plant (UTMP), this
country's major transformer maker (which is part of the OAO Elektrozavod
holding company), where startup-and-adjustment operations are being
completed on the first production line. Putin pressed the "start" button
and the first tens of metres of electrical sheet steel began to come to
the conveyor line.
Elektrozavod General Director Leonid Makarevich informed the RF Head
of Government of the plans of the enterprise and acquainted him with a
graphical representation of the holding company. He said, in particular,
that investments in the construction of the UTMP over the past four years
had amounted to over 5,000 million roubles, with more than 340 million
roubles out of the sum being put into the social infrastructure.
Near the electrical steel cutting-to-length line, the Premier spokes
for several minutes in German with one of foreign engineers from Germany,
who engages in the adjustment and alignment of machinery, about the
technical peculiarities of assembly robots.
The Head of Government toured the bays of the transformer windings and
drying chambers, as well as the station for the testing of power
transformers.

.Voting for Yanukovich, Ukraine eyes rapprochement--view.

MOSCOW, February 9 (Itar-Tass) - Leonid Slutsky, First Deputy Chairman
of the Committee on International Affairs of the State Duma lower house of
the Russian parliament, is of the opinion that a victory by Viktor
Yanukovich at Ukraine's presidential elections would lead to
rapprochement with Russia, and, possibly, to a subsequent integration of
the two countries.
Main expectations from Yanukovich' presidency are associated with a
change of the policy course on the Russian track, Slutsky said. "There is
no doubt that our relations will improve cardinally. In this sense, a win
by Yanukovich can be only welcomed," Slutsky pointed out.
One of the first moves of a new president, Slutsky believes, will be
to cancel the discriminatory norms with regard to the Russian language and
the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine.
This point of view is also shared by Committee Chairman Konstantin
Kosachyov. As a member of the United Russia party, he congratulated
Yanukovich on a win, first of all as the leader of the partner party. "The
main result of the elections is that it puts an end to the era of the
'orange' (Viktor) Yushchenko. Therefore, any other choice was far better
from the very outset," he maintains.
In so doing Kosachyov urged Yulia Timoshenko, who lost the elections,
to accept with dignity the choice made by the people of Ukraine.
"According to international observers' accounts, the polling was up to all
the accepted standards. Timoshenko must admit and calmly accept the
outcome of the voting, thereby reaffirming her democratic reputation," the
Committee Chairman said in conclusion.
On the strength of the processing of 99.58 percent of the electronic
protocols of district polling commissions by Ukraine's Central Electoral
Commission, the leader of the Party of Regions, Viktor Yanukovich, polled
48.83 percent of the vote in the election runoff while Prime Minister
Yulia Timoshenko gained 45.59 percent of the vote.
Four point thirty-seven percent of voters did not support any of the
candidates.
-0-pop


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