Russia FM sends official note to Japan re Southern Kurils.

MOSCOW, November 25 (Itar-Tass) - the Russian Foreign Ministry has
called "unacceptable" the approval by the Japanese government of a
document that says about the "illegal occupation by Russia" of the Kuril
Islands, it is said in a statement of the RF Foreign Ministry released on
Tuesday.

"Moscow has given the most serious attention to the aforesaid step of
the Japanese government," the ministry's document says. "We consider it
necessary to stress that the Southern Kuril Islands are an inseparable
part of the Russian Federation territory on legal grounds based on the WW2
results in accordance with the legally binding agreements and treaties
between the ally states, as well as the UN Charter that was ratified by
Japan."
"The approval by the Japanese government of a document with the above
wording cannot be assessed any other than unacceptable. The Russian side,
including at the top level, has repeatedly warned about
counter-productivity of such actions for the bilateral dialogue on the
peace treaty problem, including the border delimitation aspect. The
current steps of Tokyo contradict the fixed by the leaders of the Russian
federation and Japan mutual understanding of the need to create a normal,
mutually respectful atmosphere of bilateral cooperation, including the
dialogue on the peace treaty problem and border delimitation. The Russian
side is ready to continue the corresponding dialogue only in this manner,"
the RF Foreign Ministry stated.
"The Russian Foreign Ministry has sent the corresponding official note
to the Japanese Foreign Ministry. We hope that Tokyo will draw due
conclusions from the situation emerged as a result of its actions," the
statement says.
"Russia for its part is committed to the development of relations with
Japan in the constructive spirit that characterises contacts between the
RF president and Japanese prime minister," the Russian Foreign Ministry
noted.
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.CSTO secretary general decorated with Armenia Order of Honour.

YEREVAN, November 25 (Itar-Tass) - Secretary General of the Collective
Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) Nikolai Bordyuzha on Tuesday was
decorated with the Armenian Order of Honour - the Armenian state award
given to foreign citizens.
Handing in the order Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan expressed
gratitude to Bordyuzha for the prompt and efficient work, expressed
"satisfaction with the tempos of cooperation within the CSTO framework,"
the press service of the head of state reported. The president said that
serious work has been done recently in the CSTO, including in 2008-2009
when Armenia was presiding in the organisation.
"It is quite probable that this first, but very good precedent when
the adopted, so to say, verbal decision for over not too long period
turned into a document and the CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Forces were
created," Sargsyan noted. "These forces have not only been formed, but
also held manoeuvres," the republic's leader stated.
The Armenian president is certain that "in the short run we will
complete the development of a package of normative acts and our
organisation will become a structure best enduring security of CSTO member
states."
Having thanked the Armenian president for the decoration Bordyuzha
promised that he would do everything possible to make CSTO intensify
activities and settle questions in the organisation more quickly.
Among the decoration holders are legendary Soviet illegal intelligence
man, Hero of the Soviet Union Gevork Vartanyan, Russian Transport Minister
who chairs the Russian part of the bilateral intergovernmental cooperation
commission Igor Levitin, Russian political analyst Andranik Migranyan.
This order has also been awarded to former French Prime Minister Lionel
Jospin, renowned French composer and singer, author of music for The
Umbrellas of Cherbourg (French: Les Parapluies de Cherbourg) film Michel
Legrand, Polish composer Krzyztof Penderezki, head of the CE Venice
Commission Gianni Buquicchio, French film producer Alain Terzian and
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.
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.Ukraine parliament in crisis, govt in stagnation - Yushchenko.

KIEV, November 25 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian parliament is going
through crisis and the government is in stagnation, the country's
President Viktor Yushchenko said at a meeting with the electorate in the
Chernigov region on Tuesday, the press service of the head of state
reported.
"We have the parliament without majority and stagnation of the
government in which half of the seats are empty," Yushchenko said.
According to him, there are two ways out of the parliamentary crisis:
"The first - the deputies replace the majority, premier and preserve the
current membership. The second variant, which is more probable, is early
elections of the Verkhovna Rada." Yushchenko also promised that in any
situation he would acts within the constitution framework.
The Ukrainian president particularly stressed that only a democratic
power in Ukraine is a guarantee of independence. "If an authoritarian
egoistical person is allowed to power then this will be the beginning of
the loss of independence and territorial integrity," he noted.
Yushchenko stated that Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko lied about
ex-Defence Minister Yuri Yekhanurov the dismissal of whom she initiated
five months ago accusing him of corruption. "Five months have passed. How
many courts are dealing with this case? Not a single one, moreover, I have
received a letter from the Prosecutor General's Office, which says that no
corruption actions of the defence minister have been established. This
means that the prime minister lied to us," Yushchenko noted. "This was a
lie, by the way, the same as in dozens of other cases," he stressed.
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