EUROPEAN UNION AND RUSSIA DISCUSS THEIR WAR ON CRIME
Izvestia, May 20, 2003, p. 3
Justice and interior ministers of Greece (European Union chairman), Italy (the next chairman), and Union commissar for justice and interior plus their Russian counterparts are meeting in Athens, Greece, to discuss joint measures in the war on crime – trafficking, money laundering, car thefts, and slavery.
SECURITY COUNCIL STUDIES SIBERIA
Izvestia, May 20, 2003, p. 3
Secretary of the Security Council Vladimir Rushailo began his working tour of the Siberian federal region. It will end on May 24. The tour is an element of preparations for the Security Council meeting on the national security of Siberia.
NATO DOES NOT CARE ABOUT RUSSIAN BASES IN GEORGIA
Izvestia, May 20, 2003, p. 3
President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze says that the existing conflicts and Russian bases in Georgia are not obstacles for its membership in the Alliance. “Membership in NATO is matter of time,” he said. “All of that depends on fulfillment of our obligations now… NATO recognizes Russia’s role here and particularly in the Caucasus. That is why the Georgia – NATO cooperation stipulates our contacts with Russia which is also working for rapprochement with NATO.”
EXERCISE IN THE INDIAN OCEAN UNDER WAY
Trud, May 20, 2003, EV
Unprecedented (in scale) maneuvers of the Russian and Indian navies begin today. Russia is represented by nine ships of the Black Sea and Pacific fleets under the missile cruiser Moskva and big Anti-Submarine Warfare ships Admiral Panteleev and Marshal Shaposhnikov.
Judging by Defense Minister of Russia Sergei Ivanov, the Indian Ocean had better get used to this activeness of the Russian Navy. The major prospective threats to Russia’s strategic interests are expected from the south.
