EXPO-2005 IN JAPAN TO FEATURE YAKUT MAMMOTH?

MOSCOW, February 3, 2004. (RIA Novosti correspondent Yelena Fyodorova) -- A mammoth's head discovered during the last year's excavations in Yakutia (a republic in Russia covering the northern part of the East Siberia) can become the main showpiece at the World EXPO-2005 in Nagoya (Japan), Vice President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, General Commissioner of the Russian exposition at EXPO-2005 Vladimir Strashko told a press conference on Tuesday.

"The Japanese side wants to make this unique find the central showpiece of the exhibition," he said.

According to Strashko, the Japanese organizers of EXPO-2005 have already made a relevant official proposal to the organizing committee of the Russian exposition and the Yakut government. The mammoth's remains are "Yakutia's national property," Vladimir Strashko noted. Therefore, the Japanese organizers have signed a memorandum on cooperation with the Yakut government, he added.

In his words, several conditions of the Japanese side are doubtful. The organizers ask to put the mammoth's remains at their disposal for five years, to carry out an examination of the remains and to grant them exclusive rights on their show.

The Russian organizing committee wants to show the mammoth as part of its own national exposition, Strashko said.