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Main news of February 2

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* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after a meeting of Quartet of Middle East mediators in Washington:

- The joint statement adopted by the Quartet after the two-hour meeting fully reflects Russia's position

- Russia will pressure the governing Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to implement proposals put forward by the Quartet of international mediators

- There must be a viable government in Palestine, ready for talks with Israel

- Syria should be brought into the Palestinian-Israeli peace process

- The United States president has confirmed that his country will support Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization

* The new surge of violence in the Gaza Strip may frustrate truce agreements between Palestine's rival factions Hamas and Fatah, the Russian Foreign Ministry's spokesman said

* Moscow's city court has sentenced three defendants in the case of terrorist attacks on the Moscow subway in 2004 to life imprisonment

* Russia will introduce a new executive body responsible for the procurement of weaponry and other equipment for all security-related agencies in the country, on January 1, 2008, the Cabinet said

* Russia's domestic debt rose 2.8% during the first month of 2007 to reach to 1.56 trillion rubles ($40 billion) on February 1, the Finance Ministry said

* Russia plans to diversify its exports to China by adding high-tech equipment to its traditional export commodities, oil and gas, Russia's first deputy prime minister said

* Debris from a satellite destroyed by a Chinese missile do not threaten the International Space Station, a Russian space official said

* A Moscow court sanctioned in absentia the arrest of Antonio Valdes Garcia, the former head of a subsidiary of bankrupt Russian oil company Yukos

* Russian and Georgian top transport officials will hold talks next week on restoring air links, frozen since a diplomatic feud between the countries last fall, the Russian minister-counselor in Tbilisi said

* The president of Russia's largest diamond producer Alrosa, Alexander Nichiporuk, has decided to resign, the company said in a press release

* Russian jet engine maker Salut will showcase a modernized engine for Su-family fighters at an air show in India on February 7-11, the company said

* Money and jewelry worth 1.6 million rubles ($60,000) has been stolen from Russia's most famous opera and ballet house, the Bolshoi Theater, Moscow police said

* The yellowish-orange snow that fell in the Western Siberian region of Omsk Wednesday contains no toxic substances, and was discolored due to a sandstorm in Kazakhstan, experts said

* The bodies of 15 girls aged 13-26 have been discovered in the Sverdlovsk Region in the Urals and an investigation is under way, local prosecutors said

* A Russian passenger jetliner with more than 100 people on board made a successful emergency landing in the east Urals owing to technical failure, airport officials said

* Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko called for a careful approach to proposals to merge Russian and Ukrainian gas assets into a consortium, and said it was premature to talk about specific figures

* A decree is pending in Belarus setting the rent for land under the natural gas and oil pipelines crossing its territory at $5 million a year, a government official said

* The United States will take into account Russia's concerns on Washington's plans to deploy elements of its anti-missile defense system in Europe, a high-ranking U.S. diplomat said

* A law governing Cabinet appointments and substantially cutting presidential powers has come into force in Ukraine, despite being vetoed by the president twice

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