Five suspected arsonists detained for hate crimes.

ORYOL, April 2 (Itar-Tass) - Police detained five residents of the
town of Oryol suspected of involvement in a series of arsons and charged
them with hate crimes against Muslims from the Caucasus.
Spokeswoman of the regional interior department Maria Shapkina told
Tass late on Thursday the criminal case against the five young men aged
from 18 to 22 was instituted for "hooliganism committed because of
ideological, racial, ethnic and religious hate and hostility."
She said the arsonists from November 2009 to March 2010 set on fire
the property of the local religious Muslim organization: an office, a
chapel, two cafes, a drug store, as well as the prosecutor's office of the
Oryol district.
Shapkina said the arsonists always used Molotov cocktails.
She said they confessed and said they committed the crimes because of
hatred to Caucasian ethnics.

.OSCE calls to resume Moldova-Dniester talks.

CHISINAU, April 2 (Itar-Tass) -- The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office,
Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev urged the leaderships of
Moldova and its breakaway Dniester province on Thursday to resume official
talks on a comprehensive political solution to the conflict.
The 5+2 format talks involving Moldova and Dniester plus Russia,
Ukraine, OSCE as mediators and the U.S. and EU as observers, were first
disrupted in February 2006 and resumed two years later due to Russian
efforts. However, they stalled because of recent instability in Moldova.
"My meetings here have been encouraging and productive, and I urged
the sides to continue their constructive dialogue. The 5+2 will meet in
Astana in May on my invitation, and I am confident that we will be able to
further build on the positive dynamic developed through the efforts of all
involved in the process for the benefit of ordinary people," Saudabayev
said.
In Chisinau, Saudabayev met acting President and parliament speaker
Mihai Ghimpu, Prime Minister Vlad Filat, Deputy Prime Minister Viktor
Osipov, and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Iurie
Leanca.
Leanca said Moldova reached complete understanding with Saudabayev.
"We view this support as extremely important specifically on the eve of
the next round of 5+2 format negotiations to be held in Astana in May
under the auspices of the Kazakh OSCE presidency," he said.
However, Dniester leader Igor Smirnov told Saudabayev in Tiraspol his
participation in the Astana talks will depend on the results of taskforce
performance.
He recalled that three drafts had been submitted to Chisinau,
including a friendship and cooperation treaty, an agreement on the non-use
of force, and an agreement on guarantees to the negotiating process.
"So far the taskforces have yielded no result, but they are analyzing
the situation and I hope we shall improve the life of our people due to
the authority of Kazakhstan," Smirnov said.
Before Moldova Saudabayev visited Ukraine to meet President Viktor
Yanukovich who also called for an early resumption of talks.

.UN chief to discuss Afghanistan in Turkmenia.

ASHKHABAD, April 2 (Itar-Tass) -- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
will discuss the situation in Afghanistan and integration problems in
Central Asia on Friday with Turkmen President Gurgbanguly Berdymukhamedov
on Friday.
The Turkmen foreign ministry said Ban's visit was "a clear sign of the
growing role of Central Asia where neutral Turkmenistan occupies key
positions."
"The visit will considerably expand the framework of fruitful
strategic cooperation of Turkmenistan and the United Nations in the
interests of peace and common prosperity," it added.
On his way to Turkmenia the UN secretary general made a stopover in
Azerbaijan on Thursday and called for an early settlement of
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at a meeting with Foreign Minister Elmar
Mamedyarov.
The minister said he informed the secretary general in detail about
the state of the talks on Nagorno-Karabakh. "The problem can be resolved
only on the basis of norms and principles of international law and
exclusively in the framework of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan,"
Mamedyarov said.

.SCO security officials to discuss anti-terrorism fight.

TASHKENT, April 2 (Itar-Tass) -- Secret services of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization (SCO) will discuss joint fight against terrorism,
extremism and separatism at a meeting in Uzbekistan on Friday.
First Deputy Director of the Russian Federal Security Service Sergei
Smirnov said SCO regional anti-terrorism council will consider the
creation of a permanent taskforce to coordinate joint actions against
international extremist organization Hizb-ut-Tahrir al-Islami.
SCO unites China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and
Uzbekistan.
Smirnov said the council will provide for an exchange of information
in the fight against terrorism, extremism and separatism and mercenaries
engaged in terrorist acts.
He said joint SCO measures will be discussed to assist Russia in
ensuring security at events devoted to the upcoming 65th anniversary of
VE-Day.
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