NOVO OGAREVO — President Vladimir Putin ordered the Education and Science Ministry to keep the modernisation of education in regions under control.
“After the end of federal funding, the modernisation of the system of general education should not stop,” he said at a meeting on the modernisation of regional education, held on Wednesday, November 7.
“Starting in the middle of next year, regions will assume full responsibility for fulfilling this task, including provision of necessary resources,” Putin said.
President Vladimir Putin urged regional leaders to raise teachers’ salaries.
At a meeting on the modernisation of general education in regions Putin noted that “alarming signals have been coming from some regions” instead of continued growth we see a decrease in the average salary of teachers there”.
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin ordered the Defence Ministry and the Foreign Ministry to draft an agreement on the creation of a common regional air defence system with Kazakhstan.
He instructed the ministries to conduct negotiations with Kazakhstan and sign the relevant bilateral agreement.
HANOI — Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev considers U.S. President-elect Barack Obama predictable partner for the country.
“I’m glad that the biggest and powerful state in the world will be governed by a person who does not consider Russia geopolitical enemy number one,” Medvedev told journalists on Wednesday. The Russian prime minister congratulated Obama on winning the presidential elections.
“I believe that he [Obama] is a successful president. He led the country during the crisis. Thus, he should not re-build the mechanism,” the Russian prime minister said.
HANOI — In presence of Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who is in Vietnam on an official visit, the two countries sign several intergovernmental agreements.
The agreements include a document on cooperation with Vietnam in research and use of the space for peaceful purposes, a joint statement on establishment of a Russian-Vietnamese high-level working group on priority investment projects, as well as a memorandum on mutual understanding on cooperation in energy effectiveness, energy saving and renewable energy sources.
Russia and Vietnam will start negotiations on establishment of a free trade zone in 2013, Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told reporters following the Russian-Vietnamese talks on Wednesday.
HANOI — Purchase of the TNK-BP company by Russia’s state-owned oil corporation Rosneft does not mean that the latter will not privatized, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who is currently visiting Vietnam told reporters in Hanoi.
MOSCOW — Russia’s newly appointed Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has accepted the command of the country’s Strategic Nuclear Forces, Irina Kovalchuk, the press secretary of the Defense Minister said.
MOSCOW — The majority of Russians (78 percent) are convinced that no revolution should be allowed in Russia, according to a public opinion poll conducted ahead of an anniversary of the October 1917 revolution by the All-Russia Public Opinion Centre (VTsIOM).
According to sociologists, this opinion is shared mostly by those who consider any revolution a tragic event (89 percent) as well as by the supporters of United Russia (85 percent) and those who approve of the president’s activities (85 percent). Only 13 percents of respondents believe that a revolution is necessary in Russia. These are mainly those who consider a revolution a chance for renovation (31 percent) and also supporters of the Liberal Democratic Party (32 percent) and the Communist Party (27 percent).
KIEV — Ukraine and Russia plan to finish their negotiations on the modernisation of the Black Sea Fleet in the Crimea before the end of the year, Ukrainian First Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Oliynyk said.
“The talks are going well, moving forward effectively,” he said on Wednesday, November 7.
“The modernisation of the Russian Black Sea Fleet will be provided for as part of cooperation between the defence industries of the two countries, and a lion’s share of orders will be placed at Ukrainian shipyards,” the official said.
Russia will also coordinate with Ukraine all issues related to the modernisation of its Black Sea Fleet in the Crimea.
KIEV — The prices for gas import to Ukraine from Europe much cheaper, than those for direct supplies from Russia’s gas giant Gazprom, Ukrainian Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Yuri Boiko said before Wednesday’s meeting of the government.
In his words, the European gas prices are significantly smaller than those envisaged by the contract with Russia’s Gazprom.
As of November 1, Ukraine started gas import from Europe under the reversing regime (from the EU to Ukraine), which is envisioned by the contract signed between the state-run company Neftegaz Ukrainy and Germany’s RWE. Ukraine receives gas from Europe through the borderline with Poland.
As of November 4, about 3.3 million cubic metres of gas were delivered to the country.
MOSCOW — Police in north-eastern Moscow detained an employee of the PRO TECH pharmaceutical company suspected of shooting to death his five colleagues, and wounding another three. District police confirmed his arrest, but declined to provide details.
The shooting broke out in warehouses located in Chermyanskaya Street earlier in the day. A man opened fire with a Saiga hunting rifle. Five PRO TECH staff, including women, were killed.