25/7 Tass 2
(Two takes)
MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will witness the startup of the seventh and eighth units of the Surgut state district power plant GRES-2 and the twelfth unit of the Sredneuralsk GRES in the videoconference mode on Monday, the government press office said on Sunday. The units were built in fulfillment of foreign investors’ commitments. Advanced technologies ensure the units’ efficiency ratio of 56-58%, which is a third higher than the industry’s average and cuts atmospheric discharges significantly.
TOMSK — Russia’s Vostokgazprom, a division of Gazprom, plans to launch in mid August a gas pipeline of 206 kilometres for transportation of associated gas. The new gas pipeline will transport associated gas inside the Tomsk Region from the Kazan deposit to Meldzhinsky facilities to process gas.
NARYAN-MAR — The total freight traffic along the Northern Sea Route may exceed five million tonnes in 2012, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said earlier at the meeting of Russia’s Sea Board. He reported that over 2010, the Northern Sea Route’s transit freight traffic made about 110,000 tonnes. “During this year, this traffic should make 800,000 tonnes, plus additional 2,200 thousand tonnes of our domestic cargo,” he said. “As for the coming year, the cargo traffic is forecasted to exceed five million tonnes.”
MOSCOW — Trade legislation will develop to raise responsibility before customers. This opinion was expressed to reporters on Sunday by chairman of the Supreme Council of the United Russia Party and speaker of the State Duma Boris Gryzlov on the Day of Trade Workers.
MAKHACHLALA — Delegates from CIS republics and some other states will take part in the Dagestani Economic Forum scheduled for July 27-28 in Makhachkala, a source at the Dagestani Agency for Investments and Foreign Economic Relations told Itar-Tass on Sunday. “Delegates from the United States, Austria, Germany, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Israel, the Czech Republic, Italy, North Korea, Finland, Senegal and some other states have confirmed their attendance of the conference. The delegations will include businessmen and diplomats,” the source said.
IRKUTSK — The Irkutsk Aircraft Plant, the main component of the Irkut Corporation, is practically ready to assemble the Irkut MS-21 jetliner, Corporation President Alexei Fyodorov said. All the workshops of the plant are undergoing profound modernization. Technologies developed in the transformation of Airbus passenger jets into cargo planes are being used. The plant has introduced about 2,200 Airbus standards and more than 150 standards of its own, Fyodorov said.
MOSCOW — Thirteen singers, including four Russians, will perform today in the final stage of the Operalia contest together with an outstanding Spanish tenor Placido Domingo. The final stage of the prestige show, which is for the first time organised in the Russian capital, will take place in the Moscow Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Academic Musical Theatre.
PETROZAVODSK— From July 23 regular flights connect the legendary Solovetsky Islands, a place of pilgrimage of tourists and believers, and Petrozavodsk. An An-28 plane will make flights to the Solovki /a colloquial version of Solovetsky Islands/ and back on Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, Head of Karelia Andrei Nelidov said.
TYUMEN — A Key to Life programme to assist disabled children is launched in Russia’s Tyumen Region. “Over 5,000 children will limited possibilities live in the region, and practically every fifth of them requires high technology medical assistance or expensive surgery,” Governor of the Tyumen Region Vladimir Yakushev said.The region had organised earlier this year modern high technology assistance in local hospitals to over 250 children, and another 300 got treatment in Russia’s leading medical centres.
GROZNY — Over 90 percent of police officers have passed special re-certification, said on Sunday Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev at a meeting with the personnel of the Chechen Interior Ministry. He noted that the re-certification is to be completed by August 1. “The Russian Interior Ministry formed the Central Certification Commission to carry it out; it also set up 1,545 commissions at various levels,” the minister said. “Materials of over 90 percent of officers from the total number, subject to certification, have been examined as of this Sunday.”
GROZNY — The current situation in Chechnya is predictable and controllable, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev told Chechen police officers on Sunday. He lauded the Chechen police performance in the first half of this year. “The Chechen Interior Ministry was efficient and stayed in control of the regional situation,” the minister said. “Such performance would have been impossible without close interaction with other law enforcement agencies and citizens.”
MOSCOW — Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov will come to Azerbaijan on a working visit on Sunday to discuss a longer period of the rent of the Gabala radar station amongst other issues, the Defense Ministry told Itar-Tass. “The Russian defense minister will have a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and hold negotiations with his counterpart Col. Gen. Safar Abiyev,” the ministry said.
MOSCOW — Operative-strategic exercise of Russia’s Armed Forces with participation of military divisions of the CIS countries, called Centre-2011, will be organised at firing grounds of Russia, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, first deputy top military commander of Russia’s Central Military Region, Lieutenant-General Sergei Surovikin, said.
KIEV — Ukraine exported nearly $1 billion worth of armaments last year, mostly to African countries, the State Exports Control Service said in comment on the UkrSpetsExport work in 2010. “The export-import portfolio of military and specialized products reached $956.7 million, as compared with $799.5 million in 2009,” the service said.
TIRASPOL — The Russian military presence in Transdniestria is an element of the forming collective security system in Europe, Transdniestrian leader Igor Smirnov said at the Friday meeting, which marked the 19th anniversary of the deployment of the Russian force in the conflict zone.
MOSCOW — The Bulgaria boat is delivered to shallow waters of the Kirelskoye Zaton, experts are preparing for sealing the vessel and for pumping out water. “The vessel is in the shallow waters, thus the work of the Ministry of Transport is over. Now staff of the Emergencies Ministry will seal it and will pump out water,” spokesman for the response centre Timur Khikmatov told Itar-Tass on the telephone.
MOSCOW — The Russian Ministry for Emergencies confirmed that the bodies of another three victims of the Bulgaria disaster have been found. “While inspecting the motor ship, divers found the bodies of another three dead passengers. Thus, the Ministry for Emergencies confirmed the death of 117 people,” Itar-Tass learnt at the public relations service of the ministry. Five people are recorded as missing at this time. The search work continues.