US stops destroying Afghan opium crops

The United States believes the policy of destroying all Afghan opium crops has badly backfired and must be stopped. Its forces on Afghan soil have already received appropriate orders.

Ambassador John Beyrle told this to a Russian news agency in an interview in Moscow Wednesday. He cited numerous instances in which poppy eradication stripped farmers of their livelihoods and forced them to join the Taliban.

At the same time, he did not rule out localized opium destruction operations.

In the period since the year 2000, the Afghan-produced heroin is estimated to have been killing some 100 thousand people each year. The Afghan drug industry generates income for three and a half million people.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/06/09/9442883.html



Lavrov urges stepping up struggle against Afghan drug production


Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called for dealing with drug production in Afghanistan just as effectively as cocaine production is being fought in Latin America.

Opium poppy plantations and heroin labs should be wiped out, he told the international forum “Afghan Drug Production – a Challenge to the International Community”, which is under way in Moscow. We are certain of the need to treat the Afghan drug threat at the UN Security Council as a threat to international peace and security, he added.

Russia’s topmost diplomat feels that the ISAF coalition force in Afghanistan should come to grips with the drug industry problem.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/06/09/9427888.html



Russian economy can be seen as more stable in Europe – Gref


The Russian economy can be seen as one of the more stable European economies, but it needs foreign investment.

This came in an interview with the “Rossia 24” TV channel by Russia’s Sberbank CEO Hermann Gref.

The key objective now is the creation of sound macroeconomic conditions that would look attractive to investors, Gref said.

He pointed out that the Russian financial system’s dependence on mineral resources and the non-diversification of the economy was a major drawback. The Sberbank CEO says he is certain that this affects price instability in Russia.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/06/09/9424327.html



Russia will not buy The Mistral without the high-tech on it – Putin


Russia will not buy the French Mistral assault ship without the technology on it or contracts to procure much of the equipment for bringing it up to date from Russian companies. It wants the ship’s mammoth price tag of 300 million euros to stimulate naval and civilian manufacturers in Russia, as well as France.

Prime Minister Putin has told this to French media ahead of a visit to France from Thursday.

The Mistral displaces 21 thousand tons and can carry 16 attack helicopters to distances of up to 20 thousand nautical miles.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/06/09/9458711.html



Patriarch Bartholomew hopes Ukraine will overcome church schism under Yanukovich


Istanbul, June 9, Interfax – Patriarch Bartholomew hopes that under President Viktor Yanukovich Ukraine will overcome schism in Orthodoxy.

"We know there is a schism of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine and it distresses us a lot. We pray for this separation to vanish as soon as possible and for our brothers who separated to come back to the canonical Church as it is our salvation," he said at his meeting with the Ukrainian President in his Istanbul residence.

The Patriarch confessed he was "more than convinced" that Yanukovich would spare no effort to "heal these wounds" and restore unity of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

In his turn, Yanukovich pointed out to the importance of unity for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=7348

Afghan drugs undermine Eurasian stability – Russian officer

Russia believes the Afghan drug trade badly undermines stability in former Soviet Central Asia and the Russian Caucasus. It also calls attention to the role of this trade in making Europe the world’s worst drug abusing continent in per capita terms.

The chief Russian counternarcotics officer Viktor Ivanov told this to the media in Moscow on Monday.

He said Afghanistan is turning out two times more heroin than a decade ago and this deadly stuff has already left a million people dead and 16 million severely disabled.. The main importer of Afghan drugs into Europe is the underworld of Kosovo.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/06/07/9250568.html



Finnish authorities deport Russian girl


Finnish authorities have deported the daughter of a Finnish-based Russian woman, Valentina Putkonen, to Russia , media reports said on Monday. They quoted Putkonen as saying that she is now desperately tryin to contact her 9-year-old daughter Julia, who was reportedly taken away from an orphanage by Valentina’s Finnish ex-husband earlier in the day.
Last month, Julia turned to the Child Protection Union after her mother refused to give her candies before dinner. The appeal was prompted by the girl’s father and Valentina’s former husband, who signaled his readiness to get custody of the child.

Valentina was accused of physically abusing her daughter, who was quickly sent to an orphanage. Last week, police detained Julia, who had attempted to run away from the shelter .

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/06/07/9236035.html



Russian and Polish people need reconciliation – Patriarch Kirill

Katyn (Smolensk Region), June 7, Interfax – Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia hopes that tragic events in Katyn will work for historical reconciliation of Russia and Poland.

"Let this shared suffering, shared pain and shared blood reconcile us above all historiosophic and other existing disagreements," Patriarch Kirill said on Friday visiting the Katyn memorial complex.

According to him, "nothing reconciles people better than shared suffering."

"If we speak about relations between fraternal peoples - Polish and Russian - fraternal as we are Slavs, then we need reconciliation," the Patriarch said.

He noted that Katyn should "be a place of sacred memory that would help us clearly understand the meaning of the historical process and at the same time it should be a place of common prayer."

"I pray for our reconciliation and hope for peaceful prosperous future of the two Slavic nations in our countries," Patriarch Kirill said.

When visiting Katyn, he looked at the model of the Resurrection memorial Church that is under construction, Russian and Polish prime ministers laid the first stone to its foundation this April.

The Patriarch expressed hope that in future this church would become "a place of ardent prayer for all who visit Katyn."


[Why no mention of Pilsudski's and Rieczmigli's reign of terror against Russians and Orthodox Christians in interwar Poland along with Poland's inherent INGRATITUDE and RUSSOPHOBIA after the fall of Communism? We only liberated them and established a nation for them. Hitler was pretty clear in his intent to exterminate these "Slavs" as cochroaches. We saved them. They now point missiles at our churches and children. Yet this Patriarch answers that with sycophancy and polonophilia. Would St. Germogen be as "diplomatic"?! These are a people who have spent their history betraying Slavs and Slavdom while being chief actors in the promotion of Unia and Inquisition in Eastern Europe. Much of the problems of the Russian ethnos and its branches today are precisely the unresolved by-products of the enserfment of Russian Slavs by recz pospolita. Russia no longer needs the "sympathies" of a Catherine II "to weep for Poland". NURNBERG TRIALS AND NOT ANY "RAPPROACHMENT" FOR POLAND! Russia needs to intercede and once and for all CIVILIZE Poland and MAKE IT A SLAVIC, FRATERNAL NATION, with the understanding it breathes because we gave it life, and it will conform to the Russian Orthodox and Slavic will!

Patience is wearing thin not only with this INSIGNIFICANT RUSSOPHOBIC nation and its pathological and CRIMINAL, genocidal impulses, but with the heirs of Msgr. Rotov. To Patriarch Kirill, we respectfully answer, "Remember St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Warsaw." That is of greater primary concern to Russians and Orthodox Christians than the Polish officer corps, which persecuted and repressed Russians and Orthodox Christians and perpetrated acts of genocide against the Russian and Orthodox populations of Poland. Katyn, we remind this Nikodimite Patriarch, did not stop them in their hatred of Russia and Orthodoxy (or populations in process of returning to Orthodoxy). The ACT OF GENOCIDE after the Great Patriotic War perpetrated under the auspices of "Operation Vistula" to displace and destroy Lemkian Rusins and culture goes on ignored even by the Russian church today, which dares to pray for the Polish animals possessed by this very genocidal spirit of extermination of our peoples and our Holy Faith. Shall his Holiness be offering prayers for Josaphat Kuntsevich and Ipatius Potij shortly?! Where is the Lemko Rusin memorial, Patriarch Kirill?! Or are they, the Lemkian Rusins-once unapolgetic, loving sons of Rus' and Orthodoxy- correct in now holding to the fact that "Moscow does not care about Rus', but sells Russian blood for diplomacy and Western money"?! Provide RUSSIAN VICTIMS OF POLAND AND ITS BLOODY, RUSSOPHOBIC AND PSYCHOPATHIC HISTORY with prayer and a memorial, your Holiness.

Moreover, it is FORBIDDEN FOR THE DUKHOVENSTVO TO OFFER PRAYER FOR THE DEPARTED HETERODOX! ENOUGH. These problems with crypto-Uniates and crypto-Renovationists are only solved when an Orthodox government HAS A STRONG HAND IN SYMPHONIA and promotes Traditional Orthodoxy, for as we witnessed with the February Revolution, the Church is ready to betray Russia and her sovereign and even the very Orthodox Faith under the "right auspices". Arianism would have consumed the Church Militant had St. Constantine not interceded for Orthodoxy. UNIA and RENOVATIONISM are the heretical spectres on the verge of betraying the Church Militant today. They and the foul personages who promote them must be stopped. The solution to the heirs of Msgr. Rotov is a rebuttal from a strong Orthodox government. A cold, northern monastery with a strict Igumen would be appropos. A place where cigarette sales and their fortunes have been consumed in cinders and forgotten. Perhaps then these odious Nikodimites will forego the vogue of Vatican collared cassocks and beardless, bare headed betrayals of the Holy Orthodox Faith.

Russian and Orthodox prayers are offered for the VICTIMS of these VICTIMIZERS of Katyn and their post-war Operation Vistula russophobic heirs. Russian and Orthodox blood drips from their hands even decades later. Our RUSSIAN ORTHODOX PRAYERS are for our Lemkian Rusin brothers and for our holy and beautiful churches such as St. Alexander Nevsky cathedral in Warsaw.-R]

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=7343

Russian disabled lady to be deported from Finland June 16

Irina Antonova with her daughter. Photo: RIA Novosti

Moscow is concerned with Finland’s decision to deport Russian Irina Antonova, who is old and disabled, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Andrey Nesterenko told journalists on Thursday. He said the Helsinki authorities plan to deport Antonova June 16.

Irina Antonova’s daughter, who married a Fin, took her wheelchair-bound mother to Helsinki two years ago through a guest visa. She has nobody to look after her in Russia. Doctors say Irina may not survive the flight. Nesterenko hopes the situation will be settled peacefully.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/06/03/9029034.html

Ukraine turns back on idea of integration with NATO

KIEV, June 1 (Itar-Tass) -- The item on NATO integration has been removed from the bill on Ukraine’s home and foreign policy. The draft, approved at Tuesday’s meeting of the Security and Defense Council under the chairmanship of Viktor Yanukovich, has been registered in the country’ s parliament.

Parliamentary Speaker Vladimir Litvin said that this bill will be considered in the first reading on June 3.

Among the basic principles the bill mentions Ukraine’s full-fledged participation in the pan-European and regional systems of collective security, membership of the European Union on the condition of neighborly relations and strategic partnership with the Russian Federation and other CIS member-states, as well as with other countries of the world. The item on Ukraine’s future membership of NATO is gone.

The national priorities are guarantees of constitutional rights and freedoms of the individual and citizen, development of civil society and its democratic institutions, protection of the state sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of the state borders, prevention of interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine, stronger political and social stability in society, measures to ensure the development and functioning of the Ukrainian language in all spheres of public life in the whole territory of the country, guarantees of the free development, use and protection of the Russian language and other minority languages in Ukraine, creation of a competitive, socially oriented free market economy and sustainable growth of the standard of living and wealth of the population.

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15185646&PageNum=0



Russia, Ukraine sign nuclear fuel contract

KIEV, June 1 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia’s TVEL and Ukraine’s Energoatom have signed a long-term contract on the delivery of nuclear fuel to Ukrainian nuclear power plants after 2010.

The contract was signed in development of a protocol of the sixth meeting of the Russia-Ukraine Interstate Commission’s Economic Cooperation Committee of April 30, 2010.

“The contract is mutually beneficial,” Energoatom President Yuri Nedashkovsky said.

TVEL started to cooperate with Ukraine in 1996, after it had won an international tender for fuel deliveries to water-cooled water-moderated reactors of Ukraine. TVEL and Energoatom signed a contract in 1997 to ensure fuel shipments thru 2010.

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15185645&PageNum=0

Russia sees no justification for deploying Patriots in Poland

Russia can see no reason that would justify the deployment of Patriot missiles in Poland, says Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko. He told a new conference in Moscow on Friday that if the Patriot missile systems continued to be deployed on a permanent basis, that would be in breach of the pledge that NATO made when signing the Founding Act to the effect that the North Atlantic Alliance nations would refrain from stationing major military forces in the vicinity of the Russian border. We will keep a close eye on the situation, and negotiate the issue with our NATO partners to get their interpretation of the commitment to that end and have them outline the parameters of specific combat forces in the form of legally binding agreements between Russia and NATO, the Deputy Russian Foreign Minister added. It transpired earlier today that Poland has deployed a foreign military base, namely a battery of US Patriot missiles in the small town of Morong, 80 kilometres away from the Russian border.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/05/28/8650472.html

European integration among priorities for Ukraine – president

KIEV, May 28 (Itar-Tass) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich said on Friday that European integration remains among priority directions in the country’s foreign policy.

With that in view, the president has instructed the government and the Foreign Ministry to finish by October 15, when a Ukraine-EU summit will be held, work to bring Ukrainian legislation in line with European and pave the way for the signing of the Association Agreement and an agreement on visa-free travels between Ukraine and the EU.

“Before October 15, we must practically finish work on all these directions, and during the summit we must in essence get specific answers,” Yanukovich told a session of the European integration committee. The president said that the signing of the Association Agreement was significant, and stressed that preparations for that “have entered the final stage”.

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15174352&PageNum=0

Kiev to continue cooperation with NATO, but no membership

KIEV, May 27 (Itar-Tass) - The question on Ukraine’s membership of NATO has been shelved now, said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Konstantin Grishchenko on Thursday at the ninth interdepartmental meeting on coordination of activities of bodies of executive power in foreign affairs.

“The idea of Ukraine’s membership of the alliance does not enjoy support of the majority of Ukrainians and is destructive for efficiency of the state’s foreign policy,” the minister explained.

He noted at the same time that Kiev would continue developing relations with NATO. “We jotted out from the agenda the question on a membership of the alliance. Precisely this approach is in full compliance with the present state of affairs,” Grishchenko emphasised.

He reckons at the same time that participation in international organisations is an urgent thing for Ukraine. “This gives a chance to use the best international experience and resources for the country’s development,” Grishchenko said.

On Wednesday, first deputy secretary of the Ukrainian Security Council Stepan Gavrish said by the results of a meeting of the joint working Ukraine-NATO group that the Ukrainian side “refrains from the ideology of speedy accession to military-political amalgamations”.

According to the deputy secretary, this stand “will help to concentrate attention and resources on carrying out large-scale social and economic reforms, necessary for the country, and to ensure stable development”. At the same time, “preserving the dynamics of the political dialogue with NATO, Ukraine started establishing strategic partnership with Russia,” Gavrish added.

The Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council had approved the strategy of the country’s relations with NATO in May 2002 whose final aim was to join the North Atlantic alliance. Starting from 1997, Ukraine and NATO have been cooperating in the framework of the signed charter on special partnership.


http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15168977&PageNum=0

Catholic festivities not best occasion for Pope's visit to THE Ukraine - Moscow Patriarchate

Moscow, May 26, Interfax - The Moscow Patriarchate has made it understood that the possible visit by Pope Benedict XVI to Ukraine to mark 600th anniversary since the capital city of the Catholic metropolitans was transferred from Galich to Lvov, will not benefit relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican.

"The celebration of the 600th anniversary since the residence of Galich Catholic metropolitans was moved to Lvov is not the best occasion for the Pontiff's visit to the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church," [Note: 600 years ago the Metropolia of Galich was RUSSIAN ORTHODOX and reliant upon the omophorion of the RUSSIAN ORTHODOX Metropolitan of Kiev who had transferred that cathedra to Moscow. The Lvov cathedra valiantly resisted Unia and fought Brest until Unia was imposed on Galicia by the Austrian crown in a prolonged process of resistance lasting from 1692-1712.] Priest Dimitry Sizonenko, acting secretary for inter-Christian relations of the Moscow Patriarchate's External Church Relations Department, told Interfax-Religion.

Benedict XVI was invited to visit Ukraine in 2012, when the festivities will take place, Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki said on Tuesday.

Father Dimitry said, however, that the Moscow Patriarchate has not received such information from the Vatican so far.

"It would make sense to speak about the Moscow Patriarchate's position on Benedict XVI's visit to Ukraine only after this visit has been officially announced by the Vatican's press service," he said.

Wife of Neo Uniate "Ukrainian Nationalist" President Yuschenko Manipulating Neo NAZI Gangs To Act For His "Ukrainian Uniate" Agenda

Relations between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Roman Catholic Church have "significantly improved, and cooperation and cultural exchanges between the two churches have been broadening in international organizations, including in the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and UNESCO," he said.

"But obvious progress in Orthodox-Catholic dialog has not eased the poignancy of the unsettled situation in Ukraine's western regions. It is the most painful aspect in our relations. There is however every reason to hope that these problems will be resolved, the Vatican demonstrates a greater understanding today of the Moscow Patriarchate's position," Father Dimitry said.

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=7303





Ukrainians Hoping for '12 Papal Visit


KIEV, Ukraine, MAY 25, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The archbishop of Lviv [sic! L-V-O-V]says Benedict XVI has been invited to visit Ukraine in 2012, to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the change of the Church's headquarters from Galich to Lviv [sic! L-V-O-V].

Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki announced today that the invitation has been made, clarifying that no official dates were set.

The archbishop -- who worked in the private secretariat of Pope John Paul II and then of Benedict XVI -- added that possible dates are to be analyzed so that the Holy See can give an official confirmation.

It would be the second papal visit to Ukraine after the nation's 1991 independence. John Paul II visited in 2001.

The visit would have particular importance in the context of ecumenical relations with the Orthodox Church, which is one of Benedict XVI's priorities.

NEWLY CREATED UKRAINIAN UNIATE "MISSIONARY EPARCHIES"

Ukraine has a population of some 45 million, with about 80% of them belonging to branches of the Orthodox Church. About 10% of Ukrainians are either Greek or Roman Catholic.

Patriot missiles deployment in Poland cannot favour security - FM

MOSCOW, May 26 (Itar-Tass) - The deployment of American Patriot missiles in the territory of Poland does not favour the security and relations of trust, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

“Such military activity does not help to strengthen our mutual security, to develop relations of trust and predictability in this region,” the ministry said.

“We stated earlier that we cannot understand the logic and targets of the cooperation between the United States and Poland in this sphere,” the source said. “We have to state regretfully, that our questions to the Polish and American sides were left unanswered. Neither have we got a reply to our reasons to move the place of the deployment further from the Russian border.”


http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15163528&PageNum=0

Benedict XVI is invited to visit THE Ukraine in 2012

Kiev, May 25, Interfax - Pope Benedict XVI was invited to visit Ukraine in 2012 during the celebration of the 600th anniversary of moving the episcopate capital from Galich to Lvov, Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki said at a conference of Roman-Catholic Bishops of Ukraine.

"The Holy See has accepted this invitation... and now the specific date is to be defined," Archbishop said.

The previous Pope John Paul II visited Ukraine in 2001. It was the first papal visit to Ukraine during the years of its independence.


http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=7302

Timoshenko demands extraordinary parliament session over deal with Russia

KIEV, April 22 (Itar-Tass) -- Ukrainian opposition leader Ukrainian Yulia Timoshenko said she was demand an extraordinary parliament session on Saturday over Wednesday’s agreement between the presidents of Ukraine and Russia that allow the Russian Black Sea Fleet to stay in the Crimea till 2042.

Timoshenko said Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich “grossly violated the Constitution by signing the agreement with the Russian Federation on the extension of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s presence in Ukraine.”

"Yanukovich flouted Article 17of the Constitution which does not allow the presence of foreign military bases in Ukraine,” she said.

Timoshenko believes that by so doing Yanukovich who “has unfairly taken the post of president” continues to sell Ukrainian national interests.

However, a senior Ukrainian diplomat disagreed with Timoshenko said that the agreement does not contradict the Constitution.


http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15051686&PageNum=0

Ukraine’s opposition pickets US frigate in Sevastopol

“No to NATO!”, “Ukraine is not NATO!”, “NATO is not in Ukraine!” is what the posters of the left-wing opposition proclaimed when protesters met the arrival in Sevastopol of the USS John L. Hall. The picket was put up by Ukraine’s Progressive Socialist Party. The Interfax news agency says that according to earlier reports, the frigate was to call at the port of Sevastopol on April 20th, on an unofficial visit.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/04/20/6663800.html

Baltic states don’t need their own air force - NATO chief

The creation of an air force in the Baltic states is inexpedient, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told journalists in Brussels. Mr. Rasmussen said NATO will ensure Baltic air space protection and control until the region becomes capable of creating its own air force. Touching upon the intention of France to sell a Mistral helicopter carrier to Russia, the Secretary General expressed his confidence that Russia wouldn’t use this equipment against any of its neighbors or any NATO ally. Anders Fogh Rasmussen also said that “NATO takes Moscow seriously as a global strategic partner.”

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/04/14/6402531.html

Russia urges NATO to crack down on Afghan drugs

Russia urges NATO to crack down on Afghan drugs

Russia believes the United Nations mandate of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan must include a leading role in the fight against Afghan-grown drugs. Speaking in Moscow on Friday, this country’s chief counter-narcotics officer Viktor Ivanov looked forward to NATO help in stopping the northward flow of illegal opiates from Afghan territory. He also announced a Russian plan to coach 225 counter-drug police for Afghanistan. The curriculum includes a course in dog-handling.


http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/03/19/5450355.html

NATO launches air exercises over three Baltic States

NATO launches air exercises over three Baltic States

NATO’s air exercises have got under way over the three Baltic States, - Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. The exercises, to last until the 20th of this month, comprise air units from France, Lithuania, Poland and the United States. The NATO pilots will rehearse manoeuvring, midair refuelling, aircraft ground handling and the Baltic countries’ ground service cooperation. During the exercise the planes will take off from Tallinn. Accoridng to the NATO official spokesman James Appathurai, the manoeuvres have been scheduled and are being held for the fifth time, to rehearse compatibility of NATO’s ground and air forces in the region. The official emphasized that Russia had been briefed on the exercises fully and well in advance. All relevant information was handed over to Russian ambassador at NATO Dmitry Rogozin in Brussels.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/03/17/5365464.html

Poland must stop setting NATO, EU on Russia - Polish ex-PM

The former Polish Premier Leszek Miller believes his country risks falling out of the international mainstream unless it abandons attempts to make NATO and the European Union enemies of Russia. In an interview with the Russian agency RIA-Novosti Sunday, he said NATO and EU are interested in cooperation with this country and have already brushed aside Polish efforts to attract American missile defences to Eastern Europe and derail the Nord Stream project for a Russian gas pipe to European countries under the Baltic Sea.




http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/03/14/5281651.html