.Moscow mayor begins visit to Venezuela with helicopter flight over capital.

CARACAS, May 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov began his
visit to Venezuela with a helicopter flight over its capital of Caracas on Wednesday.

During the hour-long tour, Luzhkov was accompanied by Public Works and
Housing Minister Diosdado Cabello, Caracas Mayor Jorge Rodriguez, Head of
Government of the Capital District Jacqueline Faria, and members of the
Moscow delegation.
Luzhkov and Cabello spent the whole flight by the wide open door. "We
had learnt quite a lot before coming to Caracas. Our forward group was
here and it was received by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez," Luzhkov
told Itar-Tass and the TV-Tsentr television company.
The mayor said he had "fundamentally studied the materials" submitted
by the forward group in Moscow. "But when we took a look at all this [from
aboard the helicopter], we got a better idea of the problems and the scale
of the tasks," he said.
According to different estimates, 5-7 million people live in Caracas,
including about two million in makeshift housing.

.Georgia "tries to ignore many things and withholds information"-
Abkhazia FM.

SUKHUM, May 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Georgia "tries to ignore many things and
withholds information", an Abkhazian Foreign Ministry senior official said.
"Many things are intentionally hushed up, unfortunately, with the
connivance of the European Union's monitoring mission working in Georgia,"
said Lana Agrba, head of the Abkhazian Foreign Ministry International
Department and a constant participant in the five-party talks held in the
Gali District every three weeks.
"This happened with the unresolved issue of David Sigua who was
abducted by Georgian secret service and whose fate remains unknown. And we
can see the same situation with regard to the Turkish tanker that was
carrying fuel to Sukhum and was detained in August 2009," she said on
Wednesday.
The latest, 16th, five-party meeting to work out a mechanism for
preventing and responding to incidents, was held in the town of Gal on
Wednesday, May 5. Its participants exchanged information and discussed the
incidents that had occurred after the previous meeting on April 13.
The Abkhazian delegation again raised the question of releasing the
Turkish tanker carrying fuel for Abkhazia which was detained by Georgian
border guards in August 2009. Official Sukhum intends to raise this issue
at every meeting until its full resolution, the Foreign Ministry said.
"The Georgian government's appeal to international organizations to
impose additional sanctions against Abkhazia is a factor that destabilizes
the situation around Abkhazia," it said.
The U.N.-chaired five-party meetings involve Abkhazia, Russia,
Georgia, and members of the EU monitoring mission. They have been held
since July 2009.

.Kazan Universiade to become technological testing range for Sochi
Olympiad.

KAZAN, May 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said
the World University Games in Kazan in 2013 will become a technological
testing range for the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014.
"After the presentation of Russia's bid [for the Universiade in Kazan,
International University Sports Federation Vice President Stefan Berg
said: The whole of your country stands behind Kazan and supports it. And
that is true. The preparation of the Universiade along with the
preparation of the Olympic Games in Sochi and the APEC summit is another
national construction project," Putin said on Wednesday.
In his opinion, "The Universiade becomes particularly important ahead
of the Winter Olympic Games 2014, and Kazan will become some sort of a
technological resting range for Sochi."
Kazan will "test the system of coordination between organisational
bodies and the efficiency of mechanisms that have been worked out."
"And of course Kazan's experience of designing and building sport and
infrastructure facilities and solving land issues should be used," the
prime minister added.
He stressed the need to "keep the pace" of work and warned against
wasting money.
"When it all began, [former Tatarstan President] Mintimer Shaimiyev
told me that no funding would be necessary. But I had no doubt that it
would be necessary, but I supported the project because it is important
for the republic and the country," Putin said.
"We need to minimise our expenditures by organising joint work, for
example, in the field of transportation, together with the Sochi Olympic
Games executive Committee," he said.
On the whole, the prime minister appeared to be pleased by the
preparations for the World Student Games.
"Frankly speaking, I was pleased by what I saw today and how it was
all organised," he said.
"All deadlines are met, and this is very important. Work is well
organised," he said.
The average cost of building new facilities is 30,000-32,000 roubles
per square metre, which is acceptable. A total of 350,000 square metres of
premises will be built for the games.
"This is a big volume. And this means an extra serious workload for
the republic's construction industry during the crisis," Putin said.
-0-zak/