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Main news of February 12

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RUSSIA * Moscow and Kiev reached an agreement on gas supplies and also discussed Ukraine's plans to join NATO during talks in the Russian capital between... 12.02.2008, Sputnik International

2008-02-12T19:02+0000

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Main news of February 12

19:02 GMT 12.02.2008

RUSSIA

* Moscow and Kiev reached an agreement on gas supplies and also discussed Ukraine's plans to join NATO during talks in the Russian capital between the two countries' presidents

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said:

- Russia possesses the relatively inexpensive technical capability to offer an appropriate response to U.S. missile defense deployment in Europe

- The upcoming declaration of unilateral independence by Kosovo is an irresponsible step that undermines the principles of international law

- A Sino-Russian proposal for an international treaty to ban the deployment of weapons in space applies to all weapons, not only nuclear ones

- President Vladimir Putin will attend a Russia-NATO Council summit scheduled for early April

* President Vladimir Putin ratified a Russian-Ukrainian agreement to extend the service life of RS-20 (SS-18 Satan) intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Kremlin press office said

* Russia is surprised by the commotion raised in Western media reports over a recent incident involving Russian bombers in the Pacific Ocean, an aide to the Russian Air Force commander said

* Ultra nationalist presidential candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky promised he would give every person $4,000, cancel entrance examinations and inspire all Russians if he wins the March 2 elections

* A militant with links to al-Qaeda has been killed in Russia's southern republic of Ingushetia, an Interior Ministry official said

WORLD

* Israel has no plans to stop building houses in East Jerusalem, seen by the Palestinian National Authority as the capital of any future Palestinian state, Israel's minister for housing said

* Two U.S. astronauts completed an almost eight-hour spacewalk to install a European science laboratory on the International Space Station, NASA said

* Talks between the United States and Iran on security in Iraq will start in the next few days, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said

* Tbilisi City Hall gave its permission for a ten-day rally outside the Georgian parliament against recent disputed elections in the former Soviet republic

* The Ukrainian parliament adopted a bill on Tuesday to downsize the country's armed forces in 2008

BUSINESS

* Russia's energy giant Gazprom and Ukraine's national energy company Naftogaz have agreed to create two new companies to secure natural gas deliveries to Ukraine, Gazprom's CEO said

* Russia and India initialed an agreement to construct another four reactors for the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in southern India, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said

* Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Baghdad welcomes Russian companies interested in doing business in the country, but will not offer them special privileges

* LUKoil hopes to regain the right to develop Iraq's giant West Qurna-2 oil field following the Russian government's cancellation of most of Iraq's debt, the company said

* Renova Group, a leading Russian asset management company, said it had obtained a license to produce manganese in South Africa

* Russia's agricultural watchdog said it had lifted its ban on a number of Indian agriculture imports

* Russia's Alrosa has proven rough diamond reserves worth $109.3 billion, the company's president said