Medvedev to award Paralympic medalists.

MOSCOW, April 2 (Itar-Tass) -- President Dmitry Medvedev will welcome
Russian Paralympic team members in the Kremlin on Friday to award them
with state decorations.
The Russian Paralympic team won the Vancouver Games with 38 medals,
including 12 gold, 16 silver and 10 bronze.
"The Russian Paralympic team won the first place in Vancouver. Our
athletes displayed immense fortitude and will-to-win spirit," the
president said last week saying he decided to add state decorations to
Paralympic medals.
"I will meet them shortly and congratulate them," Medvedev said.

.Medvedev to discuss situation with party leaders.

MOSCOW, April 2 (Itar-Tass) -- President Dmitry Medvedev will discuss
the situation in the country following the latest terrorist attacks in the
Moscow metro and in Dagestan with leaders of parliamentary parties on
Friday.
The meeting with United Russia Chairman and State Duma speaker Boris
Gryzlov, Fair Russia leader and Federation Council speaker Sergei Mironov,
Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, and LDPR chief Vladimir Zhrinovsky was
initially scheduled for Thursday, but was postponed as the president
traveled to Makhachkala following a major terrorist act in Dagestan.
A high-ranking United Russia official told Tass Gryzlov will call to
unite efforts in the fight against terrorism.
However Zyuganov will call to dismiss the government, which he said
"is incapable of coping with any task". "We shall never end corruption and
terrorist acts if we do not have professionals on all levels," Zyuganov
said and called to revise "crazy and mediocre" army and police reform.
Fair Russia Party will warn against infringements on civil liberties
in the fight against terrorism. "We shall urge that any actions of law
enforcers do not affect civil freedoms," leader of the party faction in
the State Duma Nikolai Levichev said. He warned the political
modernization announced by the president may stall and even backtrack
because of calls to toughen and mount control in the country.
Besides, all parties except for the ruling United Russia will complain
of unfair elections.
Zyuganov said several improvements have been made, however the latest
election in March showed the system continues to favor the ruling party.
Mironov said he would submit a report to the president "with all the
facts of unfair competition" at the March election.
Zhirinovsky will propose to hold regional elections once a year
instead of current two times. He also wants to hold Duma elections in
March 2011 instead of December to expand the break between parliamentary
and presidential elections to one year. "It will help hold the
presidential campaign in 2012 more efficiently and in a quieter regime,"
he said.

.Putin to give green light to Venezuela's Junin 6 oil project.

MOSCOW, April 2 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
will pay his first visit to Venezuela on Friday to give a green light to a
joint venture that will develop the Junin 6 block in the vast Orinoco
crude belt that is to daily produce 50,000 barrels by the end of the year.
Putin will meet Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bolivian
President Evo Morales, who will arrive in Caracas for the meeting.
Venezuela's state-run PDVSA and a consortium of Russian oil majors
agreed in February to set up a joint venture to develop the Junin 6 field.
The Russian consortium comprises Gazprom neft, Rosneft, LUKOIL, TNK-BP and
Surgutneftegaz. "It is for the first time that so many oil companies
united to work abroad," a Russian government official said.
Venezuela's Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said PDVSA would own 60
percent of the joint venture and the Russian consortium will have the rest.
Putin and Chavez will also discuss a Russian loan worth 2.2 billion
dollars, which was discussed in Moscow last September. Chavez said the
loan for weaponry had been practically agreed.
Russia also wants to sell its vehicles to Venezuela and proposed to
Caracas to buy 2.5 thousand AvtoVAZ cars and a batch of KAMAZ heavy trucks.
Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin earlier said "we have agreed to set
up a joint KAMAZ-AvtoVAZ center to service Russian automobile equipment."
He added cross-country UAZ vehicles may be also sold.
Chavez has already called Putin's visit "a historic one".
-0-nec