GORKI, March 30 (Itar-Tass) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev does not rule out the toughening of anti-terrorist legislation.

“There’s a reason to return to the problem of administering justice under (Criminal Code articles) on terrorism and related crimes, and discuss the perfection of this kind of practice,” the head of state said at conference on Tuesday which addressed the improvement of the country’s judicial system.

Medvedev said he was awaiting proposals form the participants in the Tuesday meeting.

“We’ll hold several more conferences in the near future, which will address amendments to the legislation in this field (security) and preparations of special regulatory enactments.

“In this sense, consultations with the judicial authorities would be expedient,” the president said.

At the beginning of the conference, he reminded that Moscow was mourning the victims of the terrorist attacks.

“We all mourn the losses, the people who died in the acts of terror. It is a terrible tragedy, a crime,” Medvedev said.

He proposed to pay attention to certain issues of perfecting the legislation, aimed at preventing acts of terrors, and precise functioning of various agencies that handle the investigations into these crimes, as well as the implementation of other procedures related to safety on the transport and in public places.

The president believes it possible to introduce a simplified procedure of pre-trial review of the criminal cases over minor offenses.

“We talked about the possibility of extra-judicial procedure of exacting tax debts from natural persons who are not entrepreneurs. There are many problems in this sphere; many petty cases, but they are many, and justice is suffering,” Medvedev said.

In his opinion, the State Duma lower house of the Russian parliament will consider, in the near future, his legislative initiative regarding the court’s meeting the reasonable timeframe for legal proceedings.

“The problem of reviewing cases by courts is periodically raised at the international level, which is not very good for us. The issue of more effective means of legal protection remain among the key ones.

“I ordered to work out special legislative mechanisms that guarantee the rights of citizens and organizations to legal proceedings within a reasonable timeframe and the rights to the execution of court’s acts within a reasonable period; and a violation of the deadlines should be groundwork for awarding fair compensations.

“The presidential administration, together with the Supreme Court and the high arbitration tribunal have prepared the corresponding draft documents,” Medvedev said.

Last week, the president submitted them to the lower house of parliament as his legislative initiative. “It will be an important guarantee protecting citizens’ rights; the rights to effective justice,” the head of state said.

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Source & Courtesy : itar-tass .

Moscow is mourning the victims of the terrorist acts in the metro on March 30. The bombings on two central stations – Lubyanka and Park Kultury – killed 39 people. Over 70 people have been hospitalized, five remain in critical condition.

Flags have flown at half mast in Moscow, all entertaining events and programs on TV channels and radio stations have been canceled.

Muscovites and guests of Moscow continue bringing flowers to the two stations in memory of the victims of the bombings.

Medics say that some of those, who refused from hospitalization yesterday, will ask for medical help during the next several days.

The first explosion took place at Lubyanka at 07:57 a.m. The second one occurred at 08.37 at Park Kultury.

Alexander Bortnikov, the Director of the Federal Security Bureau, said that the acts were most likely organized by a terrorist group from the Northern Caucasus.

President Dmitry Medvedev stated that the organizers of the explosions would be found and eliminated.

Employees of the Moscow metro put up a special desk in the center of the Lubyanka station on which people can lay their flowers.

Metro passengers using Lubyanka today can still see vestiges of yesterday’s tragedy: fragments of broken glass on the railway tracks, marble walls damaged with the explosion and large black spots on the ceiling of the station.

Passengers lay tulips and carnations near the edge of the platform. Someone left a small Orthodox icon in memory of the victims.

The explosion at the Park Kultury station was less powerful, and the station itself suffered minor damage. People started bringing flowers to the station on Monday night. Many brought candles, although it is not allowed to light them for safety reasons.

Many of those, who had to use the metro soon after the stations were reopened yesterday, said that there were a few people traveling in the trains. The passenger traffic on the Red Line of the metro became usual already in the evening when people were returning home from work.

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Source & Courtesy : Pravda.Ru

Russia will become the country with the strongest economy in Europe in 20 years and will be ranked 5^th on the world rating, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP specialists said in their recent report, Itar-Tass news agency said.

Russia’s economy in Europe will be the strongest by 2030, specialists of the world’s largest auditing and consulting company said. Germany and France will come next on the list.

The world economy is on the brink of experiencing a geopolitical revolution, the report said. The traditional leaders – the industrially developed countries of the West united in the Group of Seven (the USA, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada) – will be replaced with a new group – E7. The new association will unite the countries of the emerging market – China, Russia, India, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey.

By 2019, the overall GDP of the E7 group will let it catch up with the G7. A decade later, by 2030, the E7’s GDP will take a 30-percent advantage of that of the G7.

By 2030, the list of world’s strongest economic countries will be as follows: China, USA, India, Brazil, Russia, Germany, Mexico, France and Britain.

It is worthy of note that Fitch Ratings downgraded the forecast of the rating of the Russian Federation from “stable” to “negative” on Friday, Jan. 22.

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Source / Courtesy : http://pravda.ru/

For the first time in history, Russian troops will be joined by the troops of former USSR’s World War II allies in a Victory parade on Red Square on May 9 (the World War II Victory Day). A preliminary agreement with military and politics official of France, the USA and Great Britain has been reached. Invitations have been sent to all heads of the CIS countries, except for the President of Georgia. The Kremlin chose not to invite the troops of the former Soviet republics.

Vladimir Kozhin, head of the department of Presidential affairs, announced earlier that for the first time in history of Victory parades on Red Square, Russia invited military contingents of NATO member countries, namely, France, the USA and Great Britain, to participate in the parade to celebrate the 65th anniversary of Great Victory. According to Kozhin, the preliminary agreement has been reached, and the final decision on the issue is to be made in the near future. He clarified that he was not talking about the war veterans who would participate in the parade as honorary guests, Kommersant reports.

As of now, only participation of the French contingent has been fully coordinated. The French government and Ministry of Defense accepted the invitation. The French contingent will include 70 air force soldiers (including three officers). They will march on Red Square under the banner of the legendary Normandie-Niemen fighter squadron of the French Air Force. Currently, the squadron is virtually disbanded and removed from active duty.

If the US government makes a positive decision regarding participation of its troops in the parade, its contingent will most likely include 70 people. British officials said that the final decision had not been made yet, but is expected in the near future.

It was earlier reported that the Kremlin would not send out official invitations to the world leaders. According to Kozhin, Moscow was expecting a visit from the French President Nicolas Sarkozy. He said that Barack Obama’s participation remained open, while a visit from Gordon Brown was expected unless he preferred to stay at home on the ground of a busy schedule and tense relations with Russia.

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source / courtesy :  http://www.pravda.ru/