Russia, Moldova presidents to discuss Dniester settlement.

MOSCOW, June 22 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and
visiting Moldovan counterpart Vladimir Voronin will discuss the Dniester
peace settlement here on Monday. The negotiations will be held during a
working visit of the Moldovan president, who will visit Russia at the
invitation of the Russian leader.

"High on the agenda of the talks is the Dniester peace settlement," a
source in the Kremlin told Itar-Tass on Sunday. Realizing its
responsibility for civil and interethnic accord on both banks of the
Dniester River, "Russia as a guarantor and a mediator keeps making active
efforts aimed at a comprehensive and final settlement of the Dniester
problem just in peaceful ways through talks."
Medvedev and Voronin will exchange views on the prospects and ways of
resuming the political settlement of the Dniester conflict "in light of
the Moscow meeting of the leaders of the parties to the conflict on March
18, 2009, held at the initiative of the Russian president," the Kremlin
source said.
Upon results of the March talks Russian President Dmitry Medvedev,
Moldovan counterpart Vladimir Voronin and Dniester leader Igor Smirnov
signed a joint statement. "The sides noted a stabilizing role of the
peacekeeping operation in the Dniester region and agreed that it would
expedient upon results of the settlement to transform it in a new
peacekeeping operation under the OSCE aegis," the Russian Foreign Ministry
said. The statement also contains the following directions of further
work: the sides will continue direct contacts in order to optimize the
negotiating process; the sides will intensify the work of the expert
groups for building up confidence measures. Meanwhile, "the sides
reaffirmed the significance of the 5+2 format and agreed to provide
conditions for the soonest resumption of talks in this format." The sides
urged all negotiators in the 5+2 format to contribute to "the provision of
these conditions."

.Russia FM to go on European tour.

MOSCOW, June 22 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
will go on a European tour on Monday. This week he will visit four
countries, will have about 12 bilateral meetings and will participate in
six international meetings on the high level. Lavrov will participate in
three major forums, which will discuss Russia's proposals to change the
European security structure and Russian president's initiative to conclude
a new European security treaty.
Lavrov will begin his European tour with a visit to the Austrian
capital, where an OSCE annual conference on security problems will be held
on Tuesday, June 23. The conference traditionally discusses tough security
issues - the principles of control over armaments and conventional armed
forces in the region. This year due to Dmitry Medvedev's important
initiatives the OSCE chairman-in-office invited Lavrov to spell out Russia'
s position on security in Europe. This will be the third debates on the
Russian initiative in the OSCE. The minister will deliver a report
analyzing the situation and Russia's concrete proposals. All ideas voiced
at the conference will be discussed in OSCE special bodies.
In Vienna Lavrov is to meet with the federal chancellor, the federal
president and the foreign minister of Austria, as well as the OSCE
secretary general.
On Wednesday, June 24, the minister will visit Switzerland. In Berne
Lavrov will have talks with chief of the Federal Department of Foreign
Affairs Micheline Calmy-Rey.
The north-eastern Italian port of Trieste will host a meeting of the
G8 foreign ministers on June 25-27. The foreign ministers will discuss the
key world issues and will prepare for a G8 summit in L'Aquila on July
8-10. The Middle East Quartet will meet on the sidelines of the G8
ministerial meeting. The G8 ministers will also hold an informal meeting
involving Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In Italy Lavrov is to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton and British counterpart David Miliband.
On Saturday, June 27, on a picturesque Greek island of Corfu Russia
and NATO will have the first political contact after Georgia's aggression
against South Ossetia in August 2008. This will be an informal meeting and
no decisions will be taken at the meeting. The ministers will have serious
talks on the lessons drawn from the August 2008 events. Russia hopes that
the talks will help improving the situation in the Russia-NATO Council and
revive the principles, under which the work in this format should be
built. Among other issues on the agenda of the meeting are possible
restoration of military cooperation with NATO and the problems of NATO's
expansion.
The OSCE foreign ministers will have an informal meeting on Corfu, on
Sunday, June 28. Such regional organizations as NATO, the CSTO, the EU and
the CIS are invited to participate in the meeting for the first time. Upon
results of the meeting no documents or decisions obligatory for the OSCE
member-countries are expected. The Russian side intends to put forth all
its initiatives that should build up the OSCE as the central structure of
Euroatlantic security.
Lavrov is also expected to meet with counterparts from Greece, Cyprus
and Serbia on Corfu.
-0-baz