Gas supply to be cut in Ingushetia till bomb unarmed at pipeline.

NAZRAN, December 14 (Itar-Tass) -- A suspicious object found under the
Mozdok-Tbilisi gas pipeline running along Ingushetia turned out to be a
real explosive device, a source in the Ingush Interior Ministry told
Itar-Tass.
The bomb unarming was delayed until Monday morning with darkfall.
The gas supplies will be suspended in Ingushetia until the end of the
demining operation.
The police cordoned off the scene.
The gas supplies were also cut in all North Ossetia due to a threat of
blast on the gas pipeline. The North Ossetian emergency situations
ministry warns the population in order to prevent household gas explosions
in the morning, when the gas supplies will resume. The gas supplies in the
republic are expected to resume already at 9.00 a.m. Moscow time on Monday.

.Tuchkovo town mayor, his wife gunned down at their house(adds).

MOSCOW, December 14 (Itar-Tass) -- The mayor of the Moscow regional
town of Tuchkovo was gunned down on the porch of his countryside house,
the spokesman for the Moscow regional investigation department of the
Prosecutor General's Office Investigation Committee (SKP) told Itar-Tass
on Monday.
According to specified reports, chief of the local authorities in the
town of Tuchkovo, Ruza district, Vitaly Ustimenko and his wife were gunned
down. It was earlier reported that they were found dead with numerous
stabs.
"The body of Vitaly Ustimenko was lying on the porch of his
countryside house, and the body of his wife was inside the house," the
spokesman said. Currently detectives and criminal experts are searching
through the murder scene.
On Sunday afternoon, "the son of the Tuchkovo mayor called police. He
said that he had arrived at a countryside house situated several
kilometers away from the town and found his parents dead," a source in the
law enforcement agencies told Itar-Tass earlier.
"The weapons were not found at the scene. The detectives are
investigating the motives for the crime, including the professional
activities of Ustimenko and his wife, who was a business lady," the
spokesman added.
Vitaly Ustimenko, 36, has quite recently assumed the office of
Tuchkovo mayor, winning in the recent local elections with 42.24% of votes
outpacing both contenders. On October 18, Ustimenko was inaugurated as
Tuchkovo mayor.

.Investigators searching through clash site come under fire.
(adds)

MOSCOW, December 14 (Itar-Tass) -- A group of investigators, who were
searching through the clash site, came under fire in Ingushetia, a source
in the Prosecutor General's Office Investigation Committee (SKP) told
Itar-Tass on Sunday.
Unidentified gunmen opened automatic fire at an armored vehicle UAZ
carrying Ingush policemen at 7.10 a.m. Moscow time on the Caucasus federal
highway in the Gamurdi district of Nazran. "Two policemen with various
injuries were hospitalized," the SKP source said.
An unidentified gunman opened grenade launcher fire at about 9.00
Moscow time at a group of investigators, who arrived at the incident site.
"A policeman, who was included in the investigating group, was lightly
injured," the SKP source said.
A criminal case was instituted under Article 317 Part 1 (an attempt on
the life of a law enforcer) and under Article 222 Part 2 (the illegal
circulation of weapons).
"This is not the first attack on SKP staffers," the SKP source said.
"Specifically, several groups of detectives, who arrived at the crime
scenes, came under grenade launcher fire and hit booby traps in the
Southern Federal District alone. Several SKP officers sustained various
injuries and contused wounds. Alongside, detectives and the chiefs of the
territorial investigation departments are getting threats from time to
time," the SKP source said.

.Lavrov, US special envoy to discuss Bosworth's visit in N Korea.

MOSCOW, December 14 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov will meet Monday with U.S. special envoy on North Korea Steven
Bosworth to discuss the results of Bosworth's visit in Pyongyang and
prospects for resuming the six-party talks on denuclearization of the
Korean Peninsula.
The U.S. diplomat will also have negotiations with Deputy Foreign
Minister Alexei Borodavkin, who heads the Russian delegation at the
six-party nuclear negotiations.
Upon results of the 3-day visit in North Korea (on December 8-10)
Bosworth earlier stated that the United States and North Korea reached
"mutual understanding on the need for resuming the six-party talks and for
fulfilling the 2005 historic agreements on denuclearization of the Korean
Peninsula."
The diplomat emphasized that the question about how and when the
delegations will resume the six-party negotiations in Beijing, will be
settled through consultations with other negotiating nations, including
South Korea, China, Russia and Japan. Bosworth met with North Korean
Deputy Foreign Minister Kang Sok-ju and head of the North Korean
delegation Kim Kye-gwan.
According to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the U.S.-North
Korean negotiations were quite positive. North Korea also stated that the
countries managed to bring their positions closer.
Moscow hopes for the soonest resumption of the six-party negotiations.
"The Russian side takes positively contacts on the nuclear problem of the
Korean Peninsula in any format, bearing in mind that they (contacts)
contribute to resuming the six-party negotiations," spokesman for the
Russian Foreign Ministry Andrei Nesterenko said. "We hope that U.S. and
North Korean colleagues will find common language quite soon that makes it
possible to continue the six-party negotiations already in the near
future," the spokesman said.
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