FC approves bill on use of Russian troops outside national border

.

MOSCOW, October 31 (Itar-Tass) -- The upper house of Russia's
parliament, the Federation Council, on Friday approved of the bill setting
the rules and conditions of using Russian troops outside the country's
national border.
The President Dmitry Medvedev-proposed bill empowers the head of state
to promptly use Russian troops outside the country's territory in order to
cope with such tasks as repelling attacks against Russian troops or other
forces stationed outside Russian territory, repelling or preventing armed
attacks against other countries, protecting Russian citizens outside
Russia from armed attacks against them, struggling against piracy and
maintaining the safety of shipping.
Russia's current legislation permits the use of armed forces outside
the national territory for the sole purpose of upsetting international
terrorist activities and coping with tasks under international treaties to
which Russia is a signatory. No other reasons for using troops outside the
country exist at the moment.
Under the new rules decisions to use armed forces will be made in all
cases on the basis of a resolution by the Federation Council in accordance
with the Constitution, which says that decisions in favor of using Russian
armed forces outside the national territory are a competence of the upper
house of parliament.
This bill, the FC members said, is in accordance with the Russian
Constitution and the principles of international law. Georgia's aggression
against South Ossetia in August last year highlighted the urgent need for
such a legal act.
"A country that is determined to protect its national security and
maintain international influence in earnest must take into account the
specific features of the modern situation, because the world is not
becoming a safer place, the arms race is continuing and territorial
conflicts keep blazing," the chairman of the FC international affairs
committee, Mikhail Margelov, told Itar-Tass in an interview. "Regrettably,
the threats that may require employing the clauses of this law in practice
are still there."


.651 police complained of threats to life 2009 - Nurgaliyev.


MOSCOW, October 31 (Itar-Tass) -- A total 651 police this year
reported to their superiors of threats to life, Interior Minister Rashid
Nurgaliyev told the Federation House during a question-and-answer session
on Friday.
He pointed to the complex, even dramatic conditions police operatives
had to work in.
"They have to infiltrate crime gangs. They sometimes find it not very
easy just to stand up for law and order, because threats to their life and
their children and parents follow at once," Nurgaliyev said.
This year there have been 651 reports from police officers about
threats to their life.
"As a result 572 police officers today are under special state
protection," the Interior Minister said.
Last year there were 1,200 such cases, and protection was provided for
734 police.
"We shall do our utmost to protect our colleagues, particularly so at
a time when we have to deal with threats and provocations," Nurgaliyev
promised.

.FC ratifies Russian-Italian treaty on child adoption.

MOSCOW, October 31 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's Federation Council (upper
house of parliament) on Friday ratified the Russian-Italian treaty on
cooperation in the sphere of child adoption. This is the first-ever such
document in Russia. Its purpose is protection of the rights of children
adopted by foreign parents. The treaty says that adoption by stepparents
from other countries is allowed only if a suitable family cannot be found
for the child at home.
Adoption procedures can be formalized only in cooperation with an
authorized organization. In other words, the adoption agency shall control
the process of adoption and bear the responsibility for the future of the
child adopted by the citizens of its country.
The agreement obliges the parties concerned to take measures to
prevent and stop illegal actions in relation to the adopted children,
including the extraction of financial benefits, and also kidnapping,
replacement, human trafficking, exploitation of child labor and sexual
violence. The adopted child acquires the citizenship of the host country
as of the moment the court ruling in favor of the adoption took effect and
at the same time retains the citizenship of the country of origin.
The host country is obliged, "if the interests of the child require
this," to ensure the child's transfer to a different family or return home.
The agreement is based on the principles and clauses of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child of November 20, 1989 and the Convention on the
Convention on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of
Intercountry Adoption of May 29, 1993 Russia joined in 2000. This is the
first international treaty of this kind Russia has signed.
Deputy Education and Science Minister Yuri Sentyurin said earlier the
application of the treaty would allow for accumulating the experience of
legal control of international adoption of children to be eventually used
in relations with other countries. He said Spain, France, Britain and
Israel have taken interest in such an agreement. Consultations with them
are due later this year. The child's double citizenship will be preserved
in both Italy and Russia.
According to the head of the State Duma's commission for the affairs
of the family, women and children, Yelena Mizulina, Italians in 2007
adopted 438 Russian children and in 2008, 496.

-0-str