Putin to discuss grain harvest in southern Russia.

MOSCOW, July 3 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
will visit southern Krasnodar region on Friday to discuss grain harvest,
which is estimated to comprise 85-90 million tons against 108 million last
year.

In March the Russian president decreed to create the United Grain
Company capable of competing with international grain corporations.
"The formation of a major national company on the grain market with a
wide network of storages in major grain-producing and grain-consuming
regions will create conditions to optimize commercial grain flows mostly
in favor of domestic consumers, stabilize price dynamic on the internal
market, increase profitability of grain exports," the government press
service said.
The 2009 state budget envisages 90.7 billion rubles of subsidies for
agriculture.


.Russia invites GEF to help with Olympic Sochi environment.

MOSCOW, July 3 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Natural Resources and Ecology
Minister Yuri Truntnev invited the Global Environment Fund (GEF) to join
efforts in promoting environmental protection in preparations for the 2014
Winter Olympic Games in the Black Sea spa of Sochi.
Trutnev made the offer at a meeting with GEF Chairperson Monique
Barbut on Thursday.
"The fund has a major experience in ecologizing Olympics and other
world level sport events. We are interested that projects aimed against
air pollution, at garbage processing and the development of "green"
transport are implemented in Sochi," Trutnev said according to his press
service.
Also on Thursday the Olympstroi State Corporation in charge of Olympic
construction in Sochi said it imposed additional environmental
requirements on designers and developers of Olympic facilities.
The requirements concern the use of renewable sources of energy,
architectural solutions, design, illumination, water and heat supplies,
air conditioning, anti-noise measures, and waste utilization.
"The additional requirements will promote ecological efficiency in the
design of Olympic projects and improve the quality of the environment in
the Olympic capital of 2014," Olympstroi's Vice-President Stanislav
Ananyev said.
Trutnev's ministry quoted Barbut as saying GEF was ready to provide
grants to Russia in the coming four years to decrease the discharge of
ozone-depleting substances.
The parties agreed that the ministry will design concrete proposals
for GEF participation in Sochi projects.

.Hungry Kamchatka bears scare tourist camp.

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKI, July 3 (Itar-Tass) -- Several hungry bears
approached a tourist camp in Kamchatka making people hide in their cars,
but nobody was injured, the regional nature protection agency said on
Friday.
Kamchatka brown bears, also dubbed as Gryzzlies of the Russian Far
East for their huge size, invaded the tourist base near Malkinski hot
springs, a popular spa of local residents.
The beasts were aggressive and ignored attempts of tourists to scare
them away with noise. "They behaved like true masters of the camp and
people had to hide in their cars," an eyewitness was quoted as saying.
Experts believe the beasts were tempted by food waste at the camp.
The agency said wildlife experts will be dispatched to the camp some
100 kilometers from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski to assess the situation and
ensure safety of the tourists.
Kamchatka brown bear is one of the world's largest brown bear
subspecies, weighing nearly three quarters of a ton and three meters in
length.
The bears often approach residential settlements on Kamchatka
Peninsula and were even spotted in the outskirts of
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski. Every year they attack people. This year hunters
had to kill two dangerous beasts.

.Irina Belenkaya wants daughter back in Moscow.

PARIS, July 3 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's Irina Belenkaya, embroiled in a
high-profile custody battle for her daughter Elise with former French
husband, hopes the French court will allow the three-year old kid live in
Moscow, but remains "realistic" and can hardly predict the outcome.
"I would like Elise to have a chance to live with me and sister Sasha
in Moscow. However, I am realistic. The father (Jean-Michel Andre) shall
have the rights, which all divorced Frenchmen have. Until the court
announces the judgment it is difficult for me to think how the daughter
will be brought up," she told Tass on Thursday.
The custody judgment is expected on Friday.
The estranged couple has been embroiled in a "tug-of-war" for their
daughter for two years, with Russian and French courts siding with their
nationals in the dispute. The girl has been abducted three times in two
years.
-0-nec