POLITICS
The presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet on Friday in the Volga city of Kazan in an attempt to move closer to a settlement of the two-decade conflict between Baku and Yerevan over Nagorny Karabakh. The summit could bring a long-awaited breakthrough as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is expected to present a “road map” for the settlement. (Kommersant)
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the controversial leader of Russia’s ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, said his party could win about 30 percent of votes in December parliamentary elections focusing on the so-called Russian issue. (Kommersant)
Lawyers for jailed tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky visited him for the first time in Penal Colony 7 near the town of Segezha in Russia’s northwestern Karelia region where he was transferred after a second trial last month. The former Yukos CEO is still held in a “quarantine” block until the colony administration decides who is going to be his cellmate and what activities he should be involved in. (Kommersant)
All-Russia People’s Front has received strong support of 38 million Russian farmers when the Russian Agrarian Movement officially joined Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s brainchild on Thursday. (Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Izvestia)
ECONOMY BUSINESS
Moscow authorities have agreed to sell 24.5 percent of the stake in one of Russia’s largest construction holdings, Mospromstroy, for over 3 billion rubles (about $100 million). (Kommersant)
One of the world’s largest private investment companies, the Blackstone Group, is planning to enter the Russian market in the near future. (Kommersant)
Russian authorities could order domestic airlines to remove Tu-134 passenger planes from their fleets following a crash landing in Petrozavodsk this week that killed 45 people. Experts say the tragedy was caused by pilot error and this reliable plane may still be operated for a while. (Kommersant, Vedomosti, Izvestia)
The release of 60 million barrels of crude by the International Energy Agency will lower oil prices but not enough to cause concern among Russian officials. The price of oil rose to nearly $114 per barrel at the end of April due to the global deficit caused by the Libyan conflict. (Vedomosti)
WORLD
Washington is seeking an agreement with Kabul to allow the deployment of 25,000 U.S. soldiers on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan for an indefinite period after the U.S. withdraws the bulk of its current military contingent from the Central Asian state. The U.S. “border force” is expected to prevent the infiltration of terrorist groups from Pakistan to Afghanistan. (Kommersant)
SOCIETY
Russian Education Minister Andrei Fursenko comments on the failure of the unified state examination in an interview with Rossiiskaya Gazeta.
Moscow authorities have launched a new campaign to attract tourists to the Russian capital. The campaign is worth $278 mln rubles (almost $10 mln) and includes a regular TV program about tourist attractions in Moscow, new street signs and a tourist call-center. (Kommersant)
Merrill Lynch and Capgemini said in a report that the number of millionaires (in dollar equivalent) in Russia rose by 14 percent last year to 134,000. (Izvestia)
Russian tycoon Viktor Vekselberg is in a court conflict with former SUAL head Brian Gilbertson over the Faberge brand name. (Vedomosti)
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