Medvedev, Yanukovich to discuss gas, Black Sea fleet.

MOSCOW, March 5 (Itar-Tass) -- New Ukrainian President Viktor
Yanukovich is arriving in Moscow on Friday to meet his Russian counterpart
Dmitry Medvedev and "make a sharp turn" to improve relations between the
two countries that fell to an extreme low under his predecessor Viktor
Yushchenko.

"Ukraine attributes major importance to relations with Russia. We
shall do everything possible to bring our relations back to strategic
partnership," Yanukovich said before the visit.
The Kremlin said gas supplies and transit to Europe will be discussed,
as well as border delimitation in the Kerch Strait in the Sea of Azov, and
the deployment of the Russian Black Sea fleet in Crimea, as the lease of
the naval base in Sevastopol expires in 2017.
Yanukovich previously made it clear he would ask to decrease prices of
Russian gas and would in exchange return to the idea of creating a gas
transit consortium with the participation of Ukraine, Russia and the
European Union. Previous Ukrainian authorities deleted Russia from the
plan.
"We shall definitely consider traditional issues in relations between
Ukraine and Russia, including gas supplies to Ukraine, gas transit to
Europe and the reliability of the (transit) system," Yanukovich said.
The Kremlin responded "the Russian side insists on the necessity of
strict fulfillment of existing agreements and contracts in the (gas)
sphere taking into account also the issue of ensuring uninterrupted
supplies of the Russian natural gas to European customers."
Experts in Kiev believe Yanukovich may ask Russia for financial
assistance to crisis-hit Ukrainian economy which needs an estimated 2-5
billion dollar loan to cover the budget deficit.
In 2009 bilateral trade turnover fell 42.5 percent to 22.9 billion
dollars, however Moscow believes there are good cooperation prospects in
atomic power engineering, aircraft production, space research, and
transportation.
The Kremlin said the two leaders also plan to discuss upcoming VE-Day
celebrations in May, measures to overcome the split of the Orthodox Church
in Ukraine, as well as the problems of the Russian language in the
neighboring country.
"Besides, Medvedev and Yanukovich plan to discuss key items on the
European and global agenda, and interaction within the CIS framework," it
said.

.Medvedev to address top military brass.

MOSCOW, March 5 (Itar-Tass) -- President Dmitry Medvedev will
participate on Friday in a meeting of top military brass who will discuss
performance in 2009 and the tasks for 2010.
Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov will deliver the report.
The Defense ministry said "the main 2009 result for the Armed Forces
was the transition to a new image, in particular, from four- to
three-level command structure. Operative and strategic commands were
formed on the basis of preserved military districts, and operative
commands and brigades replaced armies, divisions and regiments. Only the
Strategic Missiles Forces and the Airborne Troops kept divisions and
regiments."
Several large-scale exercises were held in 2009. President Medvedev
inspected the Zapad-2009 exercise and highly assessed it, the ministry
said.
In 2010 the strategic Vostok-2010 exercise will become a major event
and will engage the troops of the Siberian, Far Eastern and Volga-Urals
military districts, the Northern and Pacific fleets, as well as air force
and airborne units.

.Russia eyes Portuguese high-speed train experience.

LISBON, March 5 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia is eyeing Portuguese high-speed
train experience and the Russian Railways Company (RZD) will sign on
Friday cooperation protocols with Caminhio de Ferros railway company and
REFER, which manages rail infrastructure.
Trade counselor of the Russian embassy in Lisbon Igor Zolkin told Tass
the protocol with REFER calls for technical cooperation in high-speed
trains.
RZD President Vladimir Yakunin plans to make a brief presentation of
company priorities, while his Portuguese colleagues will present their
high-speed railway that is to link Lisbon and Madrid.
"This is the first visit of such a scope to Portugal", Zolkin said,
adding it opens a post-crisis stage in bilateral cooperation.
Bilateral trade turnover was close to one billion dollars in 2007, but
fell to 600 million in nine months of 2009, according to Zolkin.
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