January
January 14
LONDON - The second Russian Winter Festival on Trafalgar Square.
January 15
HELSINKI - The first round of presidential elections in Finland (the second round may be held January 29 if necessary).
January 16
MOSCOW - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's state visit to Russia.
MOSCOW - The heads of the Russian Builders Association will meet with Chairman of the Russian Audit Chamber Sergei Stepashin to discuss legal aspects of the construction industry.
STRASBOURG - The year's first session of the European Parliament (until January 19).
January 17
MOSCOW - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's news conference on the results of Russian diplomatic efforts in 2005.
MOSCOW - Grigory Elkin, the head of the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology, will deliver a report on the agency's work in 2005.
MOSCOW - A roundtable on The Natural Gas Crisis, Parliamentary Elections in Ukraine and the Future of Bilateral Relations.
BEIJING - An international conference on fighting bird flu, organized by China, the European Commission and the World Bank (until January 18).
NEW DELHI - The third round of the Indian-Pakistan peace talks (until January 18).
January 18
ST. PETERSBURG - The Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE) organized by the World Bank (until January 19).
LONDON - Talks between Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers Elmar Mamedyarov and Vardan Oskanyan on the Nagorny Karabakh conflict resolution (until January 19).
January 19
ST. PETERSBURG - The seventh international conference on global development issues (until January 21) with 500 politicians and scientists from more than 100 countries.
SWEDEN - The Snezhinka (Snowflake) - 2006 joint Russian-Swedish peacekeeping exercise (until January 26).
January 20
MOSCOW - A session of the Marine Board of the Russian government on the 2005 results and plans for 2006.
January 21
MOSCOW - Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia will meet with President of the Republic of Cyprus Tassos Papadopoulos.
MOSCOW - Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia will oversee the awards ceremony of the Orthodox Unity Fund.
VELIKY NOVGOROD - The Russian ice rally (until January 22).
January 22
MOSCOW - The opening ceremony of the Year of Armenia in Russia.
LISBON - Presidential elections in Portugal.
January 23
MOSCOW - The first plenary session of the Russian Public Chamber.
MOSCOW - The Russian independence Triumph awards ceremony in the sphere of arts and culture.
KIEV - The Kiev Court of Appeals will hear the case of journalist Georgy Gongadze's murder.
STRASBOURG, FRANCE - The January session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (until January 27) will begin. It will focus on the observation of human rights in Chechnya.
OTTAWA - Parliamentary elections in Canada.
January 24
BAGHDAD - Saddam Hussein's trial will resume.
January 25
PALESTINE - Parliamentary elections.
January 26
NOVOSIBIRSK - An inter-regional banking conference on the topic, Private crediting: market infrastructure and development prospects.
BRUSSELS - The European Parliament's commission for relations with Russia, and a delegation of the Russian State Duma, will hold a session on the Russian-Ukrainian natural gas dispute.
January 27
RIGA - The Senate of the Latvian Supreme Court will consider an appeal by Boris Berezovsky regarding his persona non grata status in the country.
January 28
MOSCOW - The ceremony of the fourth Golden Eagle national film awards.
January 29
MOSCOW - Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia will head the 14th international Christmas readings on the topic, School and Church: traditions and education reform.
January 31
NEW DELHI - Defexpo India 2006 international arms exhibition (until February 3).
February
February 8
GENEVA - The first conference of signatory countries to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
February 9
MOSCOW - A nationwide conference on the effective implementation of priority national projects with representatives of the Russian government, presidential staff, the Audit Chamber, ministries and departments (until February 10).
SICILY - An informal meeting of NATO defense ministers with their Russian counterpart Sergei Ivanov (until February 10).
February 10
MOSCOW - A meeting of G8 finance ministers and central bank heads (until February 11).
TURIN, ITALY - The 20th Winter Olympic Games (until February 26).
February 12
LONDON - A concert in honor of the great Russian ballet dancer Maya Plisetskaya (Covent Garden).
February 13
LONDON - The annual International Petroleum Week with representatives of international oil companies (until February 16).
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