Russian president says Slovakia is Russia's most important partner.

BRATISLAVA, April 7 (Itar-Tass) -- Slovakia is one of Russia's most
important partners and is a reliable guarantor of Russian gas transit to
European countries, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said at an official
dinner given by the Slovak president.
"The Russian-Slovak relations are currently dynamically developing.
These relations are based not only on the traditions of friendship, but
also on mutually beneficial pragmatic cooperation," the Russian president
said.
"We are jointly working on strengthening European security, discussing
ways of solving global economic problems, developing bilateral relations,"
he stressed.
"Slovakia is one of our most important European partners, a key and, I
stress, reliable link ensuring transit of Russian gas to Europe," Medvedev
said.
"It could rightly be said that relations between Russia and Slovakia
are on the rise and can serve as an example for other Central and East
European countries," he added.

.Ukraine, Russia can agree gas prices on mutually beneficial term -
Klyuev.

KIEV, April 7 (Itar-Tass) -- Ukraine and Russia can agree the gas
price on mutually beneficial terms, Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister
Andrei Klyuev said in an interview with TV channel 5 on Tuesday.
"I believe we will agree the gas contract on conditions that would be
beneficial both for Ukraine and Russia. Our Russian colleagues are ready
to discuss contracts, prices, terms and conditions, and we think it a
considerable progress," he said, not specifying however the gas price the
Ukrainian government had put in the 2010 budget. The budget is expected to
be considered by the cabinet on Wednesday.
According to Klyuev, the Ukrainian gas transport system might not be a
subject of bargaining while agreeing the gas prices. "Our laws prohibit
reincorporation of the gas transport system as a joint-stock company, as
they prohibit its transfer to anybody else's property," he stressed. "We
can speak of an architecture of a gas transport consortium, but it will
remain Ukraine's property."
He also said the issue of Ukraine's joining the Customs Union of
Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan had not yet been raised.

.Slovak president says cooperation in energy sphere key aspect of
relations.

BRATISLAVA, April 7 (Itar-Tass) -- The energy sphere is a basic area
of cooperation between Russia and Slovakia, Slovak President Ivan
Gasparovic said at an official dinner in honour of visiting Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday.
"The energy sphere is a key aspect of the Slovak-Russian relations,"
Gasperovic said.
"On the other hand, we want to be maximally correct - that is why our
approach to the issue of Europe's energy security is based on equal
security both for the producing party, the transit party and for the
consumer of energy," he stressed.

.SCO officials, businessmen to discuss nuclear cooperation.
MOSCOW, April 7 (Itar-Tass) -- State officials and energy companies'
executives from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member
countries on Wednesday will discuss cooperation in the area of nuclear
power generation, a source in the forum's steering committee told
Itar-Tass.
"The plenary meeting will discuss issues of international cooperation
in the area of the development of uranium deposits within the Eurasian
space, cooperation in the construction of nuclear plants on the SCO
territory, and cooperation in the area of production and supply of nuclear
fuels, nuclear security, storage and disposal of nuclear waste and
radioactive substances," the source said, adding the meeting will also
address joint scientific research and personnel training for international
projects in the nuclear sphere.
The forum was organized by the Business Assembly of Russia club
jointly with the SCO Business Council and Russia's Kurchatov Research
Institute.

.82 wounded in Moscow metro blasts remain in hospitals.

MOSCOW, April 7 (Itar-Tass) -- As many as 82 people wounded in the two
recent acts of terror in the Moscow metro are still undergoing treatment
at 15 Moscow-based hospitals, a source in the Russian Health Ministry told
Itar-Tass on Wednesday.
According to the source, two persons are in the gravest condition,
seven - in grave condition, ten - in condition of moderate severity, and
63 - in satisfactory condition. Thirty four persons have received
ambulatory assistance, 20 have been released from hospitals for outpatient
care.
The death toll in the March 29 blasts at the Moscow metro stations of
Lubyanka and Park Kultury has reached 40, of whom 36 died at the scene of
the accident, and four - in hospitals. Two persons of the 40 killed are
still unidentified.
-0-ras


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