FC to adopt statement on 70th WW2 anniversary, debate some bills.

MOSCOW, July 18 (Itar-Tass) - The Federation Council upper house of
Russia's parliament on Saturday will gather for its last meeting closing
the spring session.

The house press service told Itar-Tass that the FC
intends to adopt a statement in which it will call on the international
community to give an honest and unbiased assessment to the causes and
consequences of WW2. This document is timed to the 70th anniversary wince
the beginning of the war that is observed on September 1.
Commenting on this statement FC speaker Sergei Mironov stressed that
"we should view the course and results of WW2 not from the standpoint of
old conflicts and offences, but from the positions of the political
thinking of the 21st century." The document condemns any falsifications of
history. "The Federation Council wants to stress that revision of the
course and results of WW2 has far-reaching political goals and is aimed at
undermining of the formed system of international relations," head of the
FC international affairs committee Mikhail Margelov told Itar-Tass.
The FC members will consider the issue of appointment of Sergei Mavrin
to the post of deputy chairman of the Russian Constitutional Court. This
candidature had been submitted to the FC by President Dmitry Medvedev on
July 6. The upper house will also make a decision on the ratification of
the agreement envisaging the creation of the Anti-Crisis Fund of the
Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC).
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.Russia Dpty FM to discuss with Syria prospects for peace process.


BEIRUT, July 18 (Itar-Tass) - Russian president's special
representative, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov will hold talks
with the Syrian leadership in Damascus on Saturday. He is expected to be
received by Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and will meet the country's
Foreign Minister Walid Muallem.
The situation on the Syrian-Israeli track of the peace process will be
in the focus of these meetings. The Russian deputy foreign minister will
also share with his interlocutors "the Russian view on prospects for
holding the Moscow peace conference on the Middle East that is called upon
to give an impulse to Arab-Israeli settlement in all spheres."
Speaking at a press conference in Beirut on Friday, the Russian
diplomat stated that a meeting of the Quartet of the international
mediators for the Middle East (Russia, the United States, United Nations
and European Union) will be held shortly. According to him, the meeting
participants will discuss "considerable steps that should be taken for the
resumption of contacts between the sides." Aside from Lebanon and Syria,
Saltanov will also visit Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.
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.Armenian, Azeri presid tell FMs to prepare new meeting in autumn.


YEREVAN, July 18 (Itar-Tass) - The Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents
have told the foreign ministers of their countries to hold jointly with
the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh the
preparatory work for the organisation this autumn of a new meeting at the
top level. The presidential press service told Itar-Tass here that it was
the result of Friday's meeting between Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
and Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev in Moscow.
The sides "displayed a constructive approach to continue talks on the
peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict," the press service noted.
The Moscow meeting began with the participation of the Armenian and
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers, Edward Nalbandian and Elmar Mamedyarov, and
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group Yuri Merzlikin (Russia) Bernard Fassier
(France) and Matthew Bryza (USA), as well as Personal Representative of
the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk of Poland. Then
the presidents continued the talks tete-a-tete, after which the ministers
and co-chairs again joined them.
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.State of emergency introduced in Tatarstan due to drought.


KAZAN, July 18 (Itar-Tass) - The state of emergency was introduced in
Tatarstan on Friday due to drought on its fields, the republic's
Agriculture Ministry told Itar-Tass.
"The dry weather since late May to the middle of July in the republic
hit more than 300 thousand hectares of farmland in 30 municipal districts.
The southeast of Tatarstan was hit the worst. The total damage inflicted
on the region is estimated at 8 billion roubles," the ministry said.
Instead of lost crops local farmers plant rape, Sudan grass and millet
from the reserve stock of seeds.
According to specialists of the Agriculture Ministry, the assessment
of the scope of lost spring crops due to drought in 23 districts will be
held until July 20. During this period each farm is to determine the
damage scope and collect a package of documents for submitting them to the
ministry. They will be passed to federal executive power bodies for expert
examination and be used for the provision of financial aid to affected
farms.