May 20 preview

CHISINAU, Moldova

* The Moldovan parliament will vote in a secret ballot to elect a new president

MOSCOW

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will meet with top national security officials of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member-states

* Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Ali Aboul Gheit will meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to discuss the Middle East

* The State Duma will hold a session (10.00 a.m., ul. Okhotny Ryad, 1, tel.: (495) 692-80-00)

* RIA Novosti (Zubovsky Bulvar, 4, tel.: (495) 645-65-24, 645-64-72) will host:

- A roundtable, "Nord Stream environmental security: risks, questions, answers" (2.00 p.m.);

- A TV linkup between Moscow and Washington on Russian-U.S. trade and economic cooperation (5.00 p.m.)

* Eurasec council on financial and economic policies will hold a session (ul. Vozdvizhenka, 16)

* The Moscow City Court will consider an appeal by jailed Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev, against their custody

* Days of Slavic Literature and Culture will be held (until June 1)

MINSK, Belarus

* The Collective Security Treaty Organization's interstate commission on military cooperation will convene

STRASBOURG, France

* The European Court of Human Rights will hear an appeal by Latvia against a ruling that Riga must pay a Soviet World War II veteran 30,000 euros in compensation

PRAGUE

* A China-EU summit will be held

VENICE, Italy

* Russia's culture minister, Alexander Avdeyev, will pay a visit (until May 22)

ISTANBUL

* Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk will face Werder Bremen in the UEFA Cup final (Sukru Saracoglu Stadium)

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