Itar-Tass news digest for Saturday, July 23.

23/7 Tass 133

MOSCOW — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has expressed his condolences to King of Norway Harald V and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg over the death of people in a blast in Oslo and shooting at a youth camp in Utoya, the Kremlin press service reported on Saturday.

MOSCOW — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences to his Norwegian counterpart Jens Stoltenberg over the death of people in a blast in Oslo and shooting at a youth camp in Utoya, the governmental press service reported on Saturday.

MOSCOW — Chairman of Russian State Duma international committee Konstantin Kosachev on behalf of other members of the lower parliament house has expressed condolences to the Norwegian people over the acts of terror in Oslo and Utoya.

MOSCOW — Russia deeply condoles with the families of those killed in terrorist acts in Norway, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday. “An international response to such insensate acts of violence will be further strengthening of cooperation between states and civil society to counteract extremism and crime,” the statement said.

MOSCOW — Norway has resumed border control for people arriving from the Schengen zone after a series of terrifying acts of terror, which claimed numerous human lives, an officer with the Russian embassy in Oslo said on Saturday. “Norway has decided to temporarily resume border control for the Schengen countries,” the diplomat said. “We are not authorised to comment on such measures. For our part, we can only recommend Russians to properly obey laws of the country.”

MOSCOW — No robust security measures have been taken around Norway’s embassy in Moscow, a spokesman for Moscow police told Itar-Tass on Saturday.

“Police are working in a regular regimen,” the spokesman said. In the mean time, people are coming to the embassy to express their condolences over the disastrous acts of terror in Norway. They lay flowers and light candles.

MOSCOW — The Bulgaria pleasure boat that sank on the Volga River on July 10 will be towed to shallow water in the Kirelskoye dam, with its upper deck fully lifted, Timur Khikmatov from the lift supervisory staff told Itar-Tass over the phone on Saturday. “Specialists decided to use two cranes to tug the Bulgaria to the Kirelskoye dam, some 11-12 kilometers away from the wreck site,” he said. There, the ship will be sealed and water will be pumped out.

MOSCOW — As many as 12 vessels will escort the Bulgaria pleasure boat that sank on the Volga River on July 10 to shallow waters in the Kirelskoye dam. The Bulgaria’s upper deck has already been fully lifted, Timur Khikmatov from the lift supervisory staff told Itar-Tass over the phone on Saturday. “Preparatory works at the ship will soon be over. Now anchors are being weighed at the two cranes that will tug the Bulgaria to the shallow waters,” he said. Moreover, ten auxiliary vessels will escort the ship.

MOSCOW — There are no children among those who are reported missing in the wreck of the Bulgaria pleasure boat that sank on the River Volga on July 10, a spokesman for the emergencies administration in the republic of Tatarstan told Itar-Tass on Saturday.

NOVO-OGARYOVO — A total of six billion roubles might be allocated to support various agricultural sectors in Russian regions under regional economic programs, Russian Minister of Agriculture Elena Skrynnik said on Saturday at a meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

NOVO-OGARYOVO — Belarus sticks to its commitments under a dehydrated milk agreement with Russia and exports no such products to Russia in order not to infringe upon interests of Russian farmers, Russian Minister of Agriculture Elena Skrynnik said on Saturday. “Russia has stuck a balance with Belarus, and they never violate this balance,” she said at a meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. “That is why in the period of ‘big milk’ we see to it that no milk powder is imported. It is a big help to our farmers.”

MOSCOW — No wildfires are reported in central Russian regions, a spokesman for the regional emergencies centre told Itar-Tass on Saturday. According to the spokesman, four wildfires, including a peat bog fire, on an overall are of 0.88 hectares were reported in the Central federal district, all of them have been extinguished.

MOSCOW — Abkhazia wants to normalize relations with Georgia but Tbilisi’s current authorities have blocked all paths to a dialogue, Abkhazia’s Prime Minister Sergei Shamba said on Saturday. “We have hope that relations with Georgia will improve when the latter is ready for a dialogue,” he said in an interview with the Ekho Moskvy (Moscow Echo) radio station.

MOSCOW — Five persons were hurt, including two children, in a bus-truck collision in Russia’s Ulyanovsk region, a spokesman for the local emergencies administration told Itar-Tass on Saturday. According to the spokesman, the accident took place on Saturday on the highway linking Nikolskoye and Dimitrovgrad.

KEMEROVO) — Rescuers have found the dead miner who has been reported missing since the June 16 accident at Kiselevskaya coalmine in Russia’s Kemerovo region, the press office of the regional administration of the Russian Investigations Committee reported on Saturday.

YEKATERINBURG — Video cameras are being mounted in forests of Russia’s Chelyabinsk region to prevent illegal cutting of trees and monitor the fire situation, the press office of the regional government told Itar-Tass on Saturday.

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