* Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov will preside at an extraordinary session of the Russian cabinet. The 2005 draft federal budget will be the key issue on the government's agenda. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin is to deliver a report on this issue.
* The Russian Information Agency Novosti will host a press conference with Ukraine's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Russia Nikolai Beloblotsky on Ukraine's Independence Day, the current situation in the country and prospects of development of Ukrainian-Russian relations.
* The Chechen Republic's mission under the Russian President will mark the 53rd anniversary of the birth of first Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov [killed in a terrorist act in Grozny on May 9].
TBILISI
* EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Heikki Talvitie will arrive in Georgia on a two-day routine visit. He is to discuss the Georgian-Ossetian settlement with Georgia's leadership.
ULAN BATOR
* A delegation of the Russian Audit Chamber led by its president Sergei Stepashin will arrive in Mongolia on an official visit (August 23-26).
RIGA
* Defenders of Russian schools in Latvia will start 24-hour picketing in Esplanada park in Riga's center. The action will be running until September 3 to distribute information about the discriminating nature of the reform of national minorities' schools.
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