October 6, 2009 By Citizen M

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – October 6, 2009

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TODAY: Iran uranium plan waiting to be concluded; Russia backs Serbia on Kosovo; Lavrov exit denied; Ingushetian cabinet out.  Ex-US Yukos unit to launch mammoth lawsuit; picketed journalist gets unlikely defender; UN says Russia should improve immigration policies; grave problem for Moscow

The Washington Post reports that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has announced that an agreement between Tehran and six world powers to allow Russia to help enrich uranium for an Iranian reactor awaits finalizing.  ITAR-TASS says that the Foreign Ministry has denied rumors that Lavrov may resign.  The Foreign Minister has rebuffed questions about who truly runs Russia, Putin or Medvedev, at a press conference, where he answered, ‘you should not pit the Kremlin against the White House [the Russian government]’.  The President of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, has fired his government, claiming that they had done nothing to tackle the republic’s poverty and corruption problems.  Russia will apparently back Serbia’s case in UN court hearings on the legitimacy of Kosovo’s declaration of independence.  Moscow is considering loans to Serbia and to Bulgaria, but, according to the Moscow Times, not to Ukraine and Belarus, although the final $500 million tranche of a $2 billion loan to Minsk will be offered.