Medvedev to sum up 2009 results live at noon

MOSCOW. December 24. KAZINFORM Russia's president will sum up the outgoing year and the country's efforts through the financial crisis in a live broadcast on state television at noon, a presidential spokeswoman said.
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Dmitry Medvedev will focus on domestic and foreign policies, the economy and welfare, according to Natalya Timakova.

Observers said Medvedev's talk with the top managers of Channel One, Rossiya and NTV channels is likely to highlight an upsurge of violence in the North Caucasus, relations with the United States and a new nuclear arms reduction treaty with Washington, and ties with Europe.

Healthcare and the technological level of industrial enterprises in the wake of a string of fatal accidents in 2009 are also likely to be discussed.

Medvedev repeatedly said Russia has maintained financial stability throughout the crisis that has affected almost all global economies. Russian authorities said the country has escaped the most negative development scenarios.

Medvedev, who said he uses the Internet extensively and believes it to be the best possible platform for public debate, has launched his blog on the LiveJournal.com website, Russia's most popular blogging site. It runs in tandem with his web blog on the Kremlin site.

In a debut broadcast last December the Russian leader spoke about the situation in the former Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the global credit crunch and constitutional amendments.

The talk is expected to run for slightly more than an hour,  Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti.

See www.en.rian.ru

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