Russia 100419 Basic Political Developments

Moscow Times: Russia Prods Iran at Tehran-Hosted Nuclear Disarmament Conference

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-prods-iran-at-tehran-hosted-nuclear-disarmament-conference/404144.html
19 April 2010

AP

TEHRAN, Iran — Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Rybakov has called for more confidence-building measures from Tehran to allay international concerns over its nuclear program.

Rybakov was speaking Saturday on the sidelines of a nuclear disarmament conference that appeared timed to be a counterweight to U.S. President Barack Obama's 47-nation summit in Washington last week to discuss nuclear security.

Obama did not invite Iran, which the U.S. fears is using a civilian nuclear program as cover for developing its weapons capability. Iran denies that and says its nuclear work is only for peaceful purposes, such as power generation.

"We need to reinforce, reinstall full confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program," Rybakov said on Iran's English-language Press TV.

Three sets of UN sanctions have failed to pressure Iran to stop its own uranium enrichment work, which it says is only for producing fuel for power stations. The technology is of international concern because it could give Iran a pathway to warhead production.

Iran's conference brought together representatives from 60 countries, including China, Pakistan, Iraq, Turkey and France, as well as delegates from international bodies and non-governmental organizations, according to Iranian media.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and several other senior Iranian officials took turns at the podium to warn that U.S. nuclear policy was endangering the world and encouraging nations to consider withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the United States deceptively calls for nonproliferation while holding on to its own weapons and failing to confront Israel, which is widely believed to have nuclear bombs.

"The deceptive policy by the sole nuclear offender, which falsely claims to be advocating the nonproliferation of nuclear arms while doing nothing substantive for this cause, will never succeed," Khamenei said.

Press TV: China, Russia 'keen on IP pipeline'

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=123538§ionid=351020103
Sat, 17 Apr 2010 04:59:14 GMT

A senior Iranian oil official says Russian and Chinese companies are keen to participate in a pipeline to carry Iran's natural gas to Pakistan.

Iran and Pakistan signed a deal in March to construct the multi-billion dollar natural gas pipeline connecting the two neighboring countries.

Hojatollah Ghanimifard, vice-president for investment affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), told Mehr news agency on Saturday that Russian Gazprom company and a Chinese firm announced their readiness to take part in construction of 2200 kilometers pipeline.

Around 1,100 kilometers of the pipeline, known as 'IP' pipeline, will be built in Iran, while the remaining 1,000 kilometers will be set up in Pakistan.

"This Chinese company wants to invest in the Pakistani part of the pipeline," Ghanimifard said without revealing the name of the firm.

He added that Gazprom previously also "announced its readiness and interest to participate in the gas pipeline."

"We are ready to join the project as soon as we receive an offer," Russia's deputy energy minister Anatoly Yankovsky told the Kommersant daily in May.

Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupryanov also confirmed the company's interest in the project, Kommersant reported at the same time.

Ghanimifard went on to say that Pakistan asked Iran to increase its gas exports to Pakistan from 21.5 million cubic meters (mcm) per day to 30 mcm.

"Based on the agreement, the amount of Iran's gas exports to Pakistan was 21.5 million cubic meters per day that will be increased to 30 million cubic meters (mcm) per day," the official said.

The deal is part of the long-delayed $7.5 billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project. The project is strongly opposed by the US.

DB/TG/DT

RUVR: Poland’s acting president to attend V-Day celebrations in Moscow

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/04/19/6583546.html

Apr 19, 2010 09:40 Moscow Time

Poland’s acting president, the Polish Parliament’s speaker Bronisław Komorowski is due to arrive in Moscow on May 9^th to celebrate the 65^th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. He was invited by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Komorowski assumed the presidential powers after Lech Kaczynski’s tragic death in the air crash near Smolensk. Polish Army units are also due to take part in the march-past in Moscow’s Red Square, as well as servicemen of the Allied Nations and CIS countries.      

RFE/RL: Russia, Poland Probe Possible Reconciliation After Kaczynski Death

http://www.rferl.org/content/Russia_Poland_Probe_Possible_Reconciliation_After_Kaczynski_Death/2017304.html
April 19, 2010

KRAKOW, Poland -- Poland and Russia appear to have taken steps toward possible reconciliation, drawn together by the death of Poland's President Lech Kaczynski, who was killed in a plane crash in Russia along with 95 other high-level Poles.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who attended Kaczynski's burial April 18 in the city of Krakow, has suggested that the tragedy of the April 10 crash could help bring the Polish and Russian peoples closer.

Later, it was announced that Poland's interim President Bronislaw Komorowski had accepted an invitation from Medvedev to attend May 9 ceremonies in Moscow marking the 65th anniversary of victory in World War II.

The archbishop of Krakow, Stanislaw Dziwisz, who conducted Kaczynski's funeral mass, thanked Russians for their help and support since the crash, saying such actions have given hope for reconciliation.

"(This) gives us hope for reconciliation between our two great nations," said Dziwisz, former personal secretary of the late Polish pope, John Paul II.

Kaczynski had been anti-communist and a frequent critic of what he called Russia's "imperialism." As president, he had focused on building closer ties between NATO and European Union member Poland and the United States.

The plane crash occurred as the Polish delegation was traveling to Russia for ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre of more than 20,000 Polish soldiers and intellectuals by Soviet forces around Katyn forest. For decades until 1990, Moscow denied responsibility for the deaths, blaming the Nazis.

Speaking to Polish television shortly before boarding his plane back to Moscow, Medvedev said: "In view of these heavy losses, I believe we can make serious efforts to draw our nations closer together, to develop economic relations and find solutions to the most difficult problems, including Katyn."

After a solemn mass, two gun carriages bore the coffins of Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, draped in the red-and-white national flag, through winding streets to their final resting place in Wawel cathedral high above Krakow, Poland's ancient capital

Other mourners at the funeral included the presidents of Germany, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Georgia.

U.S. President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy were among those who were forced to abandon plans to attend Kaczynski's funeral due to the ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano that has closed Polish and other European airports.

"President Kaczynski was a patriot and close friend and ally of the United States, as were those who died alongside him, and the American people will never forget the lives they led," Obama said in a statement.

compiled from agency reports

News.az: Azerbaijan-Stavropol business forum to be held in Baku

http://www.news.az/articles/13588
Mon 19 April 2010 | 06:00 GMT

The Azerbaijan-Stavropol region business forum will be held here in late April, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Niyazi Safarov said.

The delegation of the Russian Federation`s Stavropol region will be visiting Baku on April 27-28 to expand economic ties with Azerbaijan..

Safarov emphasized Russia is Azebaijan`s strategic partner. According to him, high-level political relations is the factor contributing to development of bilateral relations.

AzerTAc