Main News of May 3

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

*The 2008 election of Dmitry Medvedev as president was the start of a deliberate effort by the Russian authorities to present a more liberal face to the world and overcome “irrational” U.S. and European policies toward Moscow, a top Kremlin foreign policy adviser has told RIA Novosti in a wide-ranging interview.

*President-elect Vladimir Putin said that Russia is ready to take Ukraine’s former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in for medical treatment, but Ukrainian officials quickly rejected the offer.

 

RUSSIA

*Russia will not leave U.S. “attempts to interfere in our domestic affairs” without response, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said, referring to visa sanctions imposed on Russian officials allegedly linked to the controversial death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow pretrial detention center.

*Russia does not exclude preemptive use of weapons against [NATO] missile defense systems in Europe but only as a last resort, the Russian General Staff said at a missile defense conference in Moscow.

*Moscow city authorities have agreed to permit the May 6 March of Millions protest, including a march from Kaluzhskaya Square and a demonstration on Bolotnaya Square, Moscow deputy regional security chief Vasily Oleynik said.

 

BUSINESS

*The National Bank of Belarus plans to launch preparations next year to re-denominate the Belarusian ruble, cutting zeroes off the much devalued currency, National Bank head Nadezhda Yermakova said.