Russian News: June 6th, 2008!

RBC, 06.06.2008, St. Petersburg 16:25:59.Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said during a meeting with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Strelna, a town outside St. Petersburg, that he planned to pay an official visit to Azerbaijan in early July, the Mayak radio station reported today. In turn, Aliyev thanked the Russian President for accepting the invitation to visit Azerbaijan.

RBC, 06.06.2008, St. Petersburg 15:50:48.Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko to make a decision on the Russian Black Sea Fleet exclusively on the basis of existing agreements with Russia and only after further consultations, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists following talks between the two Presidents in Strelna today. The Minister said that the recent steps taken by Ukraine regarding the Black Sea Fleet could harm bilateral relations, the Mayak radio station reported.

RBC, 06.06.2008, Moscow 15:15:43.Nearly five hours into today’s special euro trading session for tomorrow deals, the high on deals stood at 36.95 RUB/EUR, which is RUB 0.03 higher than the official rate set by the Bank of Russia for the next day. The euro’s further appreciation against the ruble on the domestic market can be attributed to the dollar’s unremitting recession against the European currency on international exchanges. The latter is now trading at around USD 1.56, up from roughly USD 1.5590 right after midday. Consequently, the euro has climbed almost 0.03 percent against the dollar on the global market over a fairly short period.

RBC, 06.06.2008, St. Petersburg 14:58:06.Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is poised to pay an official visit to Turkmenistan in early July. During the visit, the Russian leader plans to resume talks on bilateral cooperation with his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, Medvedev was cited by the Vesti TV channel as saying during their meeting in Strelna, a town outside St. Petersburg.

RBC, 06.06.2008, Moscow 12:55:59.Russia’s Natural Resources and Ecology Minister Yury Trutnev will hold a working meeting with Germany’s Environment and Nuclear Safety Minister Sigmar Gabriel in Moscow on Tuesday, the Russian ministry’s press office reported today. During the meeting, the parties are expected to discuss cooperation on the fulfillment of the Kyoto Protocol to the Framework Convention on Climate Change. Other items on the agenda include bilateral cooperation within the coordination council for the fulfillment of the 1992 environmental protection act, the protection of the Baltic Sea region, as well as other environmental issues.

RBC, 06.06.2008, Moscow 11:55:56.After an hour and a half of today’s special dollar trading session for tomorrow deals, the weighted average exchange rate stood at 23.68 RUB/USD. The official rate for June 7 could therefore be revised RUB 0.13, or more than 0.5 percent, lower. The current developments on MICEX can be attributed to the European currency’s significant and rapid appreciation against the dollar on international exchanges. The euro is now buying nearly USD 1.5610, up from around USD 1.5435 at midday at the previous session. Consequently, the dollar has tumbled at least 1 percent against the euro on the global market since then. This resulted in consistently high commercial bank activity at the UTS, where the trade volume was just shy of USD 900m as of 11:30 a.m.

RBC, 06.06.2008, Moscow 09:55:41.Russia is ready to work with the European Union on the establishment of international consortiums for operating transit pipelines to Europe, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced on Thursday while speaking to European politicians and businessmen. Such joint operations could be performed with the participation of companies from Russia, the EU, and transit countries, the leader stressed. Medvedev cited the examples of successful cooperation between the EU and Russia in such spheres as nuclear energy, space, aircraft manufacturing, and transport engineering. The Russian President added that Russia was striving to establish clear rules of the game and create a regime that would be the most favorable for foreign entrepreneurs developing high technology operations in the country, and was expecting an equally measured approach from its partners in Europe.