The Russian Information Agency Novosti begins Hotline coverage for Thursday, February 26, 2004.
MOSCOW
* Acting Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko will preside at a cabinet meeting.
* Viktor Khristenko will fly to Alma-Ata to participate in a session of EurAsEC premiers.
* Turkish Vice Premier, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul will hold a press conference following his visit to Russia. In addition, he will deliver a report on the main trends of Turkish foreign policy, the state and prospects of the Russian-Turkish relations at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
* The Federation Council will host a roundtable entitled "The Crimean War: Historic Lessons for Russian Security Today". The meeting will be held by the international affairs committee of the upper house of parliament.
* A founding meeting of the National Council of the Union of Russia's Citizens will be held in Moscow. A memorandum on the state of Russian society and priority trends of its development will be adopted at the meeting.
* A plenary session of the 1st all-Russia assembly of public forces on combating xenophobia and extremism will be held by several human rights organizations. Russian acting Minister for Nationalities Vladimir Zorin, Richard Wright, head of the Russian office of the European Commission, chairwoman of the Russian President's commission for human rights Ella Pamfilova and Russia's Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin will deliver reports.
* The Russian Information Agency Novosti will host a press conference with chairman of the Council of the Assembly of Russia's Peoples, Federation Council's member Ramazan Abdulatipov on the topic "What nationality lives well in Russia? Does a multinational Russia need multinational organizations? The role of the Assembly of Russia's Peoples in the implementation of national policy at the modern level".
* The Institute of Complex Social Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation will hold a presentation of the analytical report entitled "Megalopolises and Provinces in Modern Russia: Images and Reality". The report was prepared on the results of the all-Russia sociological research.
* Moscow will host a press conference on the premiere of the Queen musical "We Will Rock You" in October 2004. Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor will participate in the press conference.
ST. PETERSBURG
* The Tavrichesky Palace will host a meeting of the permanent commission of the CIS Inter-parliamentary Assembly, designated to defense and security issues. Several model bills, including On Combating Terrorism and On CIS Countries' Participation in Peacekeeping Operations, will be considered.
* St. Petersburg State University will host the international scientific-practical conference on international cooperation and improvement of the legal system of the Eurasian Economic Community.
CHERNIGOV (UKRAINE)
* Speakers of the Ukrainian Supreme Rada and Belarussian National Assembly Vladimir Litvin and Gennady Novitsky will sign an agreement on Ukrainian-Belarussian inter-parliamentary cooperation.
BRUSSELS
* Russian President's Aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky will visit Belgium on February 26-27. He is to hold a roundtable entitled "Russia before the March 14 presidential elections" there with Russian and Belgian journalists, representatives of academic circles and foreign ministry of Belgium. In addition, he is to deliver a report in NATO headquarters on Russia's role in maintaining international security and the fight against new threats and challenges.
RIGA
* Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Chizhov will arrive in Latvia on a two-day trip. He is going to meet with representatives of the Russian-speaking diaspora and hold consultations in the Latvian Foreign Ministry.
FRENCH GUIANA
* The European station Rosetta will be launched to the Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet from the Kourou space center. A group of Russian experts will observe the launching. They are staying in Kourou to coordinate the construction of the launching complex for Soyuz-ST rockets.
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