The Kremlin considers the refusal of the “eight” to continue to cooperate with the Russian Federation “counterproductive”

“The Russian side continues to be ready for such contacts at all levels, including the highest ones. We are interested in such contacts,” – said Peskov speaking about the decision of seven countries to suspend their participation in the “Big Eight” they made in the Hague.

Peskov reminded that in terms of content Russia’s presidency of the Group of Eight includes work on a range of areas and holding hundreds of events at different levels – from expert to ministerial and senior ones.

“Apparently, some of these events will be phased out. However, this does not affect the contacts with those countries which do not want to refuse from the dialogue – the interaction with them will certainly continue,” – said the spokesman.

Peskov also said that Moscow does not wait for any formal notifications from other Group of Eight countries to suspend cooperation.

Russia disappointed at refusal of G8 partners to discuss the joint fight against terrorism

Russian organizers of the conference “Countering radicalization of social climate escalating terrorism” reacted with disappointment on the refusal of the Group of Eight partners from participating in the event at the last moment and under false pretenses, said the Russian Foreign Ministry.

As the statement points out, “the partners opted out of the discussion in the established format of the major joint anti-terrorism tasks,” ITAR –TASS reported.

The Russian side, however, does not leave the plans to submit the results of the conference to the expert and governing bodies of the Group of Eight, fix them in the future as a landmark for the development of international anti-terrorism cooperation, the Foreign Ministry said.

FDCS: Russia and Japan have almost identical approach to drug control

The approaches of Russia and Japan to anti-drug problems are common, and cooperation is developing in several directions, said the deputy head of the Federal Service for Drug Control (FDCS) Nikolai Tsvetkov in an interview with Itar-Tass. He has completed his official visit to Japan.

“It is also important that this year Russia became chairman of G8, and one of the priorities of the Russian presidency is anti-drug interaction and consolidation of global efforts to combat drug trafficking, – said Tsvetkov. – We have planned in the near future a number of important international events – an expert Meeting in preparation for the G8 summit, and in May there will be held a ministerial meeting.” And in all these phases Russia “expects full participation of Japanese colleagues.” During his trip to Japan Tsvetkov also visited a specialized medical center in the city of Yokohama.

Russia allocates 15 million rubles for the activities on nuclear safety in the year of presidency over the G8

The Russian government will allocate 14 million 961 thousand rubles to Rostechnadzor for the measures for the regulation of nuclear and radiation safety in the use of nuclear technology, which are scheduled to be implemented in Russia during the presidency over the Group of Eight in the current year. The corresponding decree was signed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and published Tuesday on the official web portal of legal information.

The same decree ordered Rostechnadzor to pay a contribution of 2 million 661 thousand rubles to the IAEA “for financing the costs connected with the participation of representatives of the regulation of nuclear and radiation safety of countries planning to start construction of Russian-designed nuclear power plants, in the events on the regulation of nuclear and radiation safety in the use of nuclear technologies during the work of the Group of Eight.

The first meeting of the “G8” working group on nuclear safety and security will be held in Moscow on February, 26-27. 

Lavrov: Russia and Germany intend to work together to address key international problems within the G8

Russia and Germany intend to work closely on key international issues within the framework of the “Big Eight.” This was stated by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after the meeting with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

“We will promote these goals within our further cooperation as members of the Group of Eight, including the preparation for the next summit to be held in early June in Sochi,” – said Lavrov.

“This interaction between Moscow and Berlin is especially relevant, given that Germany is next to receive the chairmanship at “Big Eight” , – concluded the Foreign Minister.

Interaction of G8 States in Combating Drug Trafficking to Be Discussed at Sochi Summit

Interaction of the Group of Eight (G8) countries in combating drug trafficking will be one of the issues to be discussed at a G8 summit that will be held in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi in June 2014, Deputy Director of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) Oleg Safonov told Itar-Tass.

He noted that the international drug crime should be classified as a problem threatening not only the life and health of citizens, but also the security of states.

The FSKN also intends to invite the summit participants to the discussion of such an important issue as the “alternative development of countries and regions with the aim of getting rid of the drug economy.” “First of all, I mean an economy based on the production of drugs. These alternative development measures are especially important for Afghanistan and several countries in South America,” Oleg Safonov said.

In Bangkok, Safonov represented Russia at the 37th meeting of the heads of national law enforcement agencies to combat drug trafficking of the Asia- Pacific region, held from October 21 to 24.

Sergei Ivanov Heads the Organizing Committee for the Preparation of Russia’s G8 Presidency

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved the organizing committee on preparation and Russian presidency in G8. The text of the presidential decree was posted on the official web portal of legal information.

Head of the presidential administration Sergei Ivanov became Chairman of the organizing committee and his deputies are the director of the Federal Protective Service Evgeniy Murov and presidential aide Yuri Ushakov.

The organizing committee also included representatives of the Ministry of Transport, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Federal Security Service, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Regional Development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and “Gazprom” company.

The last G8 summit was held this June in the city of Lough Erne (Northern Ireland ) under the presidency of the United Kingdom. This was the 39th meeting of the heads of states and governments.

As the president of Russia previously stated, the G8 summit would be held on June 3-4, 2014 in Sochi. Vladimir Putin explained that Russia did not intend to “spend a lot of money, so the summit will be held in Sochi, three months after the Olympics, using the existing infrastructure.”