Baltic-Pacific motor racers arrive in Krasnoyarsk.

KRASNOYARSK, November 2 (Itar-Tass) -- The racers of the Baltic
Sea-Pacific Ocean transcontinental motor race, which is organized under
the motto "Great Road of Russian Civilization" by the United Russia Party,
arrived in Krasnoyarsk on Sunday evening.

Officials from the mayor's office, activists of the United Russia
local office welcomed the motor racers in the ancient Siberian city.
The motor racers passed about 6,000 kilometres from a total of 11,500
kilometres. So, they passed more than a half of the route.
The motor race should finish in Vladivostok on November 16. "On that
day we will participate in the inauguration of a Vladivostok training
centre for specialists of a car assembly plant of the Sollers Company in
the Far East," State Duma deputy Robert Shlegel, who heads the expedition,
told Itar-Tass.
The motor works will produce UAZ off-road vehicles, commercial cars
FIAT and jeeps SsangYong.
The motor race started in St. Petersburg on October 14. Russian
cross-country vehicles UAZ-Patriot were chosen for the race. "During the
race no jeep broke down, we did not need any assistance, otherwise, we
rendered the technical assistance to other motorists," a member of the
expedition from the traffic security department of the Russian Interior
Ministry Vasily Skiba said.
Stopovers are made in large cities during the motor race. During round
table meetings and seminars in the regional branches of the United Russia
Party in these cities important provisions of the party's program and its
initiatives aimed at the development of the country are broadly discussed.

.Russian publishers to share innovative experience.

MOSCOW, November 2 (Itar-Tass) -- More than 2,000 specialists from the
printed media industry will participate in the 5th Russian publishing
forum "Publishing Business-2009" that will open here on Monday. At the
forum the chiefs of publishing and printing companies, representatives of
the advertising industry and related industries will consider the
situation in the publishing industry amid the world economic crisis and
will discuss the prospects for innovative business development.
"The chiefs of Russian and foreign media associations, state officials
will participate in the forum," said a source in the Guild of Periodical
Press Publishers, which organises the forum. Russian Minister of
Telecommunications and Mass Communications Igor Shchegolev will deliver an
opening speech.
According to the organizers, the business program of the forum
envisages more than 20 seminars, conferences and round table meetings. The
leading publishing houses, printing offices and news agencies will be
represented at the exhibition.
"Crisis changes, tendencies and innovations in the printed media
business, new models and technologies of press distribution, prospects for
the growth of the Russian printing industry, the impact of the crisis on
the advertisement sale in the press," the source said. Alongside, the
publishers are planning to discuss the role of electronic versions of
printed editions and the media role in the Internet. The results of the
contest "Newspaper Design-2009" will be summed up at the forum.
The forum is held under the support of the Ministry of
Telecommunications and Mass Communications, the Federal Agency of Print
and Mass Media (Rospechat) and the committee for entrepreneurship in mass
media and book publishing of the Russian Commerce and Industry Chamber.

.Karachai-Cherkessia to mark 66th anniversary of forced deportation.

MOSCOW, November 2 (Itar-Tass) -- The Russian Caucasus Republic of
Karachai-Cherkessia will begin two-day commemoration events on the
occasion of the tragic date - the 66th anniversary of the forcible
deportation of the Karachai people in Central Asia.
The Karachai people fell the first victims of the Stalinist
repressions among the North Caucasus peoples. On November 2, 1943, where
over 15,000 Karachai men were fighting on the battlefields of the Great
Patriotic War, 63,000 elder people, children and women, who remained in
local settlements, were deported in Central Asia on framed-up accusations
for abetting the Nazi troops.
At the gunpoint people were pushed into the wagons not fitted for the
transportation of people and were deported in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
They were dying in inhumane conditions right in the wagons, particularly
elderly people and children. They were buried in common graves along the
railway track.
Less than 30,000 deported Karachai people came home after the full
rehabilitation 14 and a half years later, in May 1957. More than a half of
deported people died, including 22,000 children, from famine, hardships
and an unbearable hard labour. However, despite this fact Karachai men
were fighting gloriously with the fascists - 9,000 of them were killed in
the war, while the victims of repressions continued to work hard on the
fields and at the farms in Central Asia for the sake of the Victory.
Despite the betrayer and enemy of people stigma many Karachai people were
awarded with state medals for selfless labour in those hard times.
During a mass rally in Karachayevsk on Monday people will lay down
flowers to the memorial to the victims of political repressions.
Karachai-Cherkessia's President Boris Ebzeyev will participate in the
rally. On Tuesday commemoration lessons will be given at schools and
higher educational establishments in the republic, thematic exhibitions,
evenings and conferences will be held at culture facilities.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is confident that the repressions
cannot be justified and nothing can be valued more than human life. He has
made a statement in his video blog on October 30, when Russia marked the
Day of Remembrance of victims of political repressions.
"One can still hear that these numerous victims were justified by some
top state interests," the president said. "I am convinced that no
development of the country, no successes and ambitions can be achieved at
the expense of human grief and losses. Nothing can treasure more than
human life. There is no justification to repressions," the president
underlined.
-0-baz