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Main news of February 26

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RUSSIA * Gazprom will reduce natural gas supplies to Ukraine by 25% on March 3 at 7:00 a.m. GMT, if problems, primarily debts, are not settled, a spokesman for... 26.02.2008, Sputnik International

2008-02-26T19:18+0000

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Main news of February 26

19:18 GMT 26.02.2008

RUSSIA

* Gazprom will reduce natural gas supplies to Ukraine by 25% on March 3 at 7:00 a.m. GMT, if problems, primarily debts, are not settled, a spokesman for Russia's energy giant said

* Russia's Defense Ministry will spend around one trillion rubles ($40 bln) of federal budget funds in 2008, 20% more than in 2007, a ministry official said

* Russia will work with any new U.S. administration formed after presidential elections in November, a Russian first deputy prime minister and the man favorite to succeed President Putin said

* Amnesty International noted a clampdown on fundamental freedoms in Russia in a report published in the run-up to the March 2 presidential elections

* Russia's transport watchdog voiced concern over the country's ageing fleet of domestic passenger airliners

WORLD

* Belgium formally recognized Kosovo's unilateral independence, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said

* Poland's government recognized Kosovo's independence, the TVN24 channel said

* The Georgian Foreign Ministry protested to the Russian ambassador in Tbilisi over plans to allow residents of Georgia's breakaway republics to vote in Russia's March 2 presidential polls

* Bosnian Serb protestors rallying against independence for Kosovo attempted to storm the U.S. consulate in the city of Banja Luka, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Beta agency reported

* India successfully tested a submarine-launched nuclear capable ballistic missile, a spokesman for the Indian defense ministry said

* Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki advised Washington to apologize over its claims that the Islamic republic's nuclear program was geared towards the creation of nuclear weapons

* Latvian authorities banned a street march planned by a nationalist organization for March 16 to commemorate Latvians who fought for Nazi forces in WWII, Riga parliament said

* The body of Georgian businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili, who died of a heart attack February 13, arrived in Tbilisi after being flown from the U.K.

* A group of archaeologists discovered the ruins of an ancient ceremonial plaza in Peru, built 5,500 years ago, local media said

BUSINESS

* An agreement was signed late on Monday for Hungary to join Russia's South Stream gas pipeline project to transport Russian natural gas across the Black Sea to the Balkans and on to other European countries

* Structures close to RussNeft ex-head Mikhail Gutseriyev, currently wanted in Russia, completed a deal to buy two oil operators in Azerbaijan from Canada's Nations Energy, a Russian daily said

* A deal was signed to establish the main terms of a merger between Russian energy giant Gazprom and the coal mining company SUEK, the companies said

* Power Machines, Russia's leading heavy machinery manufacturer, will supply $72 mln of equipment under a contract signed on Tuesday to a thermal power plant being built in Croatia, the plant's general contractor said

* A Russian-American joint venture signed a contract to orbit another satellite for the United Arab Emirates by a Russian Proton-M carrier rocket, the Khrunichev State Research and Production Center said