* Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda will pay a one-day working visit to Moscow. He will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov.
* Macedonian Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva will arrive in Moscow on a three-day working visit.
* Russian Regional Development Minister Vladimir Yakovlev will chair a conference on state regional policy (10:00 a.m.).
* The Russian Transportation Ministry's board will hold an extended session (10:00 a.m.).
* The Federation Council will host:
- a special session of parliament's upper house (2:00 p.m.);
- Federation Council Deputy Speaker Alexander Torshin's meeting with Ukrainian Supreme Rada Deputy Speaker Adam Martynyuk (11:00 a.m.);
- parliamentary hearings on implementing the Kyoto protocol (3:00 p.m.).
* The State Duma will host:
- a session of the lower house's council (10:00 a.m.);
- a session of the Russian-Kazakh inter-parliamentary commission (10:00 a.m.);
- a session of the State Duma commission for the North Caucasus (11:30 a.m.).
* A conference on the 100th anniversary of the first State Duma session will be held (10:00 a.m.). Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov and head of Moscow State University Viktor Sadovnichy will attend.
* RIA Novosti will host:
- a news conference with Transportation Minister Igor Levitin on the results of the ministry's work in 2005 and tasks for 2006 (3:00 p.m.);
- a roundtable on development prospects of the Russian car industry (11:00 a.m.);
- a news conference with Head of the Republic of Karelia Sergei Katanandov on regional socio-economic development (1:00 p.m.);
- a news conference with members of the State Duma delegation who visited Syria in December (4:30 p.m.).
* Interfax news agency will host the following news conferences:
- with the head of the presidential council for the development of civil society and human rights institutes, Ella Pamfilova, on interaction between civil society the G8 during Russia's upcoming G8 presidency (11:00 a.m.);
- a roundtable on the results of the annual rating of Russian companies' ecological activities (4:00 p.m.).
* The presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences will hold a session on electricity problems (11:00 a.m.). Unified Energy System CEO Anatoly Chubais, Academy President Yury Osipov and other academicians will attend.
* A roundtable, "Russia: New Development Strategy" will be held (4:00 p.m.).
* A roundtable on the implementation of the Kyoto protocol will be held (10:00 a.m.).
* The opening ceremony of the exhibition "Belarusian Quality-2005" with Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov and Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky (10:00 a.m.), and a session of the Moscow-Belarusian business cooperation council (11:00 a.m.), will be held as part of the Belarus-Moscow second business cooperation forum.
* A session of the presidium of the General Council of the United Russia party will be held (4:30 p.m.).
* A news briefing on the results of the December 17 congress of the Democratic Party of Russia will be held (1:00 p.m.).
PLESETSK
* A Kosmos 3M carrier rocket will be launched to put into orbit a Gonets-1M communications satellite and the Defense Ministry's satellite.
ST. PETERSBURG
* Russian Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu will arrive in St. Petersburg to mark the 15th anniversary of the ministry, and Rescuers Day.
TBILISI
* A delegation of Russian energy giant Gazprom headed by Deputy CEO Alexander Ryazanov will arrive in Georgia. They will discuss a new agreement on Russian natural gas supplies and the formation of the joint venture GruzRosgazprom with Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli and Energy Minister Nika Gilauri.
KIEV
* Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov will give an end-of-2005 news conference.
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