News of the Day, 15:00 Moscow time

* Russia is cautiously optimistic over the meeting to be held between U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva, the Russian Foreign Ministry said

* Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin has accused the EU of exerting pressure on Belarus not to recognize the former Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia

* Russia wrote off $20 billion in debts owed by African countries in 2008, the Foreign Ministry said

* Russian military officials tried to smuggle 30 anti-submarine missiles and 200 aviation bombs via Tajikistan to China under the guise of nonferrous metal deliveries, a law enforcement source said

* Kazakhstan plans to spend 600 billion tenge ($4 billion) in state revenue from the oil and mining sectors on anti-crisis measures in 2009-2010, President Nursultan Nazarbayev said

* Russia's international reserves as of March 1, 2009 stood at $384.074 billion, compared with $386.894 billion as of February 1, a fall of 0.73%, the Central Bank said

* Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany is to pay an official visit to Russia on March 10, the Russian government's press service said

* Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya, who bought a set of belongings of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi at a New York auction for $1.8 mln, was acting on behalf of the Indian government, national media reported