Stepashin to complete Russia financial aid inspection in Palestine.

TEL-AVIV, October 12 (Itar-Tass) -- Chairman of the Russian Audit
Chamber Sergei Stepashin will sum up the results of a joint inspection on
the distribution of Russian financial humanitarian aid in the Palestinian
National Authority (PNA) in Ramallah on Monday.

Stepashin arrived in
Israel on Sunday.
Stepashin will meet with PNA President Mahmoud Abbas and then will
chair a joint meeting of the Russian Audit Chamber Collegium and the PNA
Administrative and Financial Control Bureau, a source in the Russian
delegation said. High on the agenda of the meeting are the results of a
joint inspection on spending Russian humanitarian financial aid provided
to Palestine in 2006-2008.
The Russian humanitarian aid amounted to 20 million dollars for these
years. Meanwhile Russia educates gratis 150 Palestinian students and
trains 100 law enforcers.
On Tuesday, Sergei Stepashin will visit Israel. As the chairman of the
Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society he will meet with Israeli Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and will visit the St. Sergius metochion and
the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem.
Last January Israel reinstated Russia's rights for the St. Sergius
metochion, and the restoration works have already been launched in the
northern wing of the building. However, the problem of relocating the
renting organisations - the Israeli Agriculture Ministry and the Society
for the Protection of Nature - should be settled. The St. Sergius
metochion still houses their offices.

.United Russia wins most seats in Irkutsk legislature.

IRKUTSK, October 12 (Itar-Tass) -- United Russia has won 32 of 35
seats in the Duma of Irkutsk. A Just Russia candidate and two
self-nominees were also elected in the city legislature. These are the
preliminary results of the Sunday elections in a representative body of
power in the regional centre of the Baikal area, the regional elections
commission told Itar-Tass on Monday.
The municipal elections were also held under the majority system in 22
towns and districts of the Irkutsk region. United Russia won 20 out of 25
seats in a local legislature in Bratsk, Just Russia - three seats, the
Communists - one seat and a self-nominee - one seat.
United Russia gained 16 seats in Ust-Ilimsk, Just Russia - seven seats
and self-nominees - two seats.
The average turnout at the regional elections made 27.77%. As many as
304,500 people participated in the voting from 1,096,000-strong electorate
of the region.

.United Russia wins at municipal elections in Primorsky territory.

VLADIVOSTOK, October 12 (Itar-Tass) -- United Russia has won at the
municipal elections in the Primorsky Territory. The Vladivostok
parliamentary by-elections in a single-mandate electoral district, as well
as the elections in the Spassk-Dalny city legislature and the elections of
the chiefs of rural settlements and towns in the Partizansk, Olga and
Kirovskoye districts were held in the territory on Sunday.
According to preliminary results, United Russia gained 61.86% in the
elections in the Spassk-Dalny city legislature, the territorial elections
commission told Itar-Tass. The United Russia candidate won in the
Vladivostok Duma elections in a single-mandate electoral district.
A very low turnout was reported in the territorial municipal
elections. About 9% of voters participated in the Vladivostok
parliamentary by-elections and about 25% in Spassk-Dalny.

.Federation Council delegation to visit Spain.

MOSCOW, October 12 (Itar-Tass) -- A delegation of the Federation
Council led by Speaker Sergei Mironov will arrive in Spain on Monday. The
Russian parliamentary delegation will visit Spain at the invitation of the
Speaker of the Senate of the Cortes Generales, Spain's parliament,
Francisco Javier Rojo, who visited Russia three years ago.
The senators of the countries also had meetings on occasion of several
remarkable events. In March 2004 Mironov participated in a mourning
ceremony in Madrid in commemoration of the victims of the terrorist acts
in the Spanish capital; the Spanish delegation participated in an St.
Petersburg international conference dedicated to the 60th anniversary of
the Victory of the anti-Hitler coalition in the Second World War. During a
forthcoming visit Russian senators are planning to meet not only with the
Spanish Senate leadership, but also with members of the Committee for
International Affairs and the Senate factions.
During the meetings in the Cortes Generales, the Spanish government
and the Foreign Ministry Sergei Mironov intends to discuss the promotion
of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's initiative to conclude a new
European security treaty. Mironov noted that he supports completely
Medvedev's initiative to build a new architecture of international
relations and stated, "It is Europe that could be a creative laboratory
for drafting and putting into practice new components of the global
security system."
Spain will preside in the European Union next year. In this
connection, Mironov hopes that "the process of mutual understanding and
rapprochement between Russia and the EU will accelerate." "Our countries
have amicable and constructive contacts on the top level, and I believe
that this fact will have a positive influence on the relations between
Russia and all European countries," the speaker said.
Recalling that during Dmitry Medvedev's last March state visit in
Spain the countries adopted the Declaration on Strategic Partnership,
which should lay foundation of a new treaty on friendship and cooperation,
the speaker noted that the lawmakers of the countries consider
interparliamentary ties as "an important component of bilateral
relations." About 70 documents regulating the bilateral cooperation in the
political, trade, taxation, scientific and cultural spheres make up the
contractual and legal basis of the relations between the countries. The
lawmakers together with the executive authorities will have to work
seriously to upgrade these agreements and conclude new agreements,
including in military-technical cooperation, the mutual recognition of
diplomas, intellectual property protection and capital investments.
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