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Yesterday in Brief for March 3, 2006(Interfax News Agency Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)The following is a digest of headline news from March 2 to 11:30 a.m. on March 3: HAMAS DELEGATION ARRIVES IN MOSCOW A Hamas delegation led by the militant Palestinian movement's political chief Khaled Meshaal arrived in Moscow on Friday morning. The delegation also includes Meshaal's deputy Mousa Abu Marzouk and political bureau members Mohammed Nazzal, Sami Khater and Izzat Rashq. The Hamas delegation is due to hold official talks today with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov and meet with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. RUSSIA NOT READY TO TRAIN PALESTINIAN SOLDIERS Moscow considers it premature to discuss resuming training of Palestinian soldiers in Russia with the Hamas delegation visiting Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister's special envoy to the Middle East Alexander Kalugin told Interfax on Thursday. "Armor deliveries have been frozen, other area of cooperation have not yet been discussed and such issues have not yet been raised," Kalugin said. The new Palestinian Prime Minister, representative of the Hamas movement Ismail Haniyeh said that Hamas representatives will discuss political and economic situation in Palestine and military cooperation in Moscow. Hamas is counting on resuming training employees of Palestine military agencies in Russia, the Prime Minister said. BEREZOVSKY'S LAWYERS SEEK ACCESS TO NEW CASE FILES Businessman Boris Berezovsky's Russian lawyers Semyon Aria and Andrei Borovkov intend to request the Russian Prosecutor General's Office to inform them of the new charges brought against their client. "On Friday, we will inform the Prosecutor General's Office that we have been entrusted by our client to handle this case and would like to receive information we have the right to know by law, namely the official order on the institution of legal proceedings, the official indictment protocol, the composition of the investigative group, etc.," Aria told Interfax on Thursday, adding that "at present, we learn about everything from the media." On Thursday, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office announced that a new case against Berezovsky had been opened even before February 16 for his actions aimed at overthrowing power in Russia. KASYANOV'S MOVEMENT TO HOLD CONSTITUENT CONGRESS A democratic movement led by the former Russian premier Mikhail Kasyanov will hold its constituent congress soon, Kasyanov toldreporters in Bryansk on Thursday. "We will hold a constituent congress, give our organization a name and concern ourselves with the 2008 parliamentary and presidential elections," Kasyanov said. Kasyanov arrived in the Bryansk region on Wednesday at the invitation of the local businessman Gennady Pushko who greeted his guest at the railway station. Several young men with posters condemning Kasyanov came to the railway station shortly before the ex-premier's arrival. SOUTHERN FEDERAL DISTRICT GRAPPLING WITH BIRD FLU Over 16,000 birds have died of bird flu or have been slaughtered in Russia's Southern federal district in the last 24 hours, RussianEmergency Situations Ministry told Interfax on Friday. Mass deaths of birds have been registered in the district since February 3. The H5N1 bird flu virus was found in Dagestan, Kalmykia, Adygeya and Stavropol. Several deaths among wild fowl infected with the H5N1 virus have been registered in Chechnya and Kabardino-Balkaria. In the Krasnodar region, laboratory tests will be completed later on Friday. "In the period mentioned, 768,533 birds have died, 523, 122 of them killed by the virus and 245,411 culled. A complex of preventive measures is being put in place. No humans have contracted the virus," the Ministry said. SPACE AGENCY SAYS NO BAN ON PROTON-M LAUNCHES The Russian Federal Space Agency has said it will not introduce a ban on launches of Proton-M carrier rockets, following the abortive launch on Tuesday of the Arabsat 4A satellite with the help of the Proton-M rocket and Briz-M booster. "As the next launch of the Proton-M carrier rocket is scheduled for the second half of May, there is no need at the moment to impose a ban on launches of carrier rockets of this class," says a report on theagency's website. An emergency commission has been set up to determine causes of the satellite's failure to reach the target orbit. CIS & BALTICS BELARUSSIAN PRESIDENCY CANDIDATE URGES SUPPORTERS TO GATHER IN MINSK Opposition candidate for the Belarussian presidency Alexander Milinkevich is urging his supporters to come to Minsk on the evening of March 19 to hear real election results. "Starting from 10 a.m. on March 19, all state TV channels will keep telling you that Lukashenko is winning 80% of the votes. But we willknow the real results and announce them on the square. Be sure you come to Minsk on March 19 by 8 p.m.," Milinkevich said in a televised address on Thursday. He promised "no revolutions", saying that it was customary for people to assemble on a square to hear election results. "We will tell our people the truth, it's up to them to decide their country's future," Milinkevich said. "If we lose, I will honestly admit my defeat. But if I win half of the votes, the handover of power will be carried out in accordance with the Constitution," he said. BELARUSSIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE KOZULIN RELEASED FROM JAIL Belarussian presidential candidate Alexander Kozulin, who was detained by the police on Thursday morning, was released from Minsk's Oktyabrsky district police station at about 6:00 p.m. Kozulin told the press following his release that a group of "unidentified men in civilian clothing" detained him while he was trying to sign in as a delegate to the third session of the All-Belarus Popular Assembly on Thursday morning. He said he was "beaten for five minutes, after which they wrestled me down and put me into a van." In the van, Kozulin said, he was lying on the floor, and one of those who detained him was sitting on top ofhim. Kozulin said one administrative and two criminal cases had been opened against him. One of the criminal cases related to an incident at the National Press Center when he tried to break through security guards to get into the building on February 17, 2006, and the other "for breaking the glass on the picture of the Belarussian president at the Oktyabrsky district police department." ABKHAZIA BANS POULTRY IMPORTS FROM RUSSIA The government of the self-proclaimed republic of Abkhazia banned bird and poultry imports from Russia on Thursday. In addition, the government issued a decree prohibiting sales of live birds and home poultry products on all markets in the republic. The government's decree states that these measures were taken to secure the population, prevent bird flu from spreading among domestic birds due to the appearance of new H5N1 concentration points in Georgia and in southern Russia. Abkhazia's chief veterinarian Erik Anshba told Interfax that no cases of wild or domestic birds being infected with bird flu have been registered in Abkhazia. UKRAINIAN PARTY OF REGIONS GAINING POPULARITY SAYS POLL The Ukrainian Party of Regions is still leading in popularity and is increasingly gaining voters' support, while the Lytvyn bloc is losing popularity with the electorate, a poll conducted amongst 1,200 respondents from February 22 to 26 by the Social and PoliticalResearches Center showed. According to the poll, in comparison with a datum poll conducted ten days before, 30.2% of voters (30.1% ten days earlier) support the Ukrainian Party of Regions, the Our Ukraine bloc received 16.8% (18.8%), the Yulia Tymoshenko bloc is backed by 11.4% (11.4%), 5.4% (5.3%) supported the Socialist Party, the Lytvyn bloc received 2.6% (3.3%), the Communist Party received 2.6% (3.2%), the Pora-PRP bloc is backed by 2.5% (2.9%) and the People's Opposition received 2.5% (2.5%). ARMENIA WILL RECOGNIZE KARABAKH IF TALKS HIT DEAD-END - KOCHARIAN Armenia will grant de jure recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh's independence if negotiations with Azerbaijan on a settlement of their conflict over the predominantly ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan reach a deadlock, Armenian President Robert Kocharian told journalists on Thursday evening. "Armenia should be prepared that the talks may reach an impasse, although chances to make progress still remain," he said. "However, if Azerbaijan firmly states that time is working for Azerbaijan and tries to resolve the Karabakh issue by bolstering the army and using force, Armenia will take the following steps: first and foremost, it will de jure recognize the independence of the republic of Nagorno-Karabakh," the president said. The second step would be "a set of agreements and laws that would allow Armenia to ensure the security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. I am speaking about signing a wide variety of treaties that would view any attack on Nagorno-Karabakh as an attack on Armenia," Kocharian said. |