President Medvedev to hold meeting on road safety in Russia

MOSCOW, August 6 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will
on Thursday hold a meeting on traffic safety on Russian roads.
Last month Russia was shocked by series of road accidents, including
those involving passenger buses. They claimed dozens of human lives.
President Medvedev raised that subject back in July after a bus
collided with a truck killing 21 people in Russia's southern Rostov
region. He then described the situation on Russian roads as 'horrifying'.
"I think that these absolutely impossible and unbelievable incidents
occur not only because of the poor quality of our roads. This is also a
consequence of how traffic control is organized on our roads and a
consequence of slackness and criminal negligence of road traffic
participants. Very often these accidents are not just mishaps, they are
simply crimes," Medvedev emphasized.
He urged the State Road Safety Inspectorate and other law enforcers to
restore order on Russian roads. "We cannot bury so many people because our
traffic control is organized this way," he said.
At a meeting of the Russian Security Council Medvedev said that the
Russian federal legislative body should also think about additional
measures to increase the safety of road traffic.
Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev has admitted that Russia's
mortality rate as a result of road accidents is the highest in Europe.
"In the first six month of this year more than 84,000 accidents
occurred on Russian roads. More than 10,000 people died and over 106,000
were injured. Almost 9,000 children have been wounded and 341 children
have died in road accidents since the start of 2009," Nurgaliyev said.
A special unit to control the enforcement of road safety rules has
been set up under the Russian Prosecutor General's Office. Its task will
be to supervise the enforcement of road safety laws by local
self-government bodies, interior bodies responsible for the safety of road
traffic and will help prosecutor's offices to organize control over the
enforcement of road safety rules.
The State Road Safety Inspectorate believes that tighter control over
bus drivers, the professional training of drivers and their compliance
with the existing traffic rules will significantly reduce the number of
road accidents.

.UN Office for Human Rights ends operation in Abkhazia.

SUKHUM, Abkhazia, August 6 (Itar-Tass) - The United Nations Office for
Human Rights has completed its mission in Abkhazia. Its head Richard
Komenda has paid a farewell visit to the Abkhazian Foreign Ministry.
He thanked the Abkhazian Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba for close
cooperation and support for the Office during its operation in Abkhazia.
In turn, Shamba also thanked the United Nations Office for Human Rights
for its work in the difficult postwar years of the republic's development.
The Abkhazian foreign minister said that he hoped that cooperation
with the United Nations would continue in a different format with account
taken of new realities.
The U.N. mission ended its work in the area of the Georgian-Abkhazian
conflict on June 16, following a decision by the United Nations Security
Council.

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