Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is expected to sign strategic and long-term intergovernmental agreements during an official visit to Ankara, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister said on Tuesday.

Ukraine will launch a probe into reports in the German media that traces of dioxin where found in Ukrainian corn exports to the EU, the Ukrainian agriculture minister said on Tuesday.

Relatives of those killed during riots in Kyrgyzstan plan to hold a rally on Wednesday in front of the Belarusian embassy in Bishkek to demand the extradition of the ousted president holed up in Minsk, the head of a non-governmental organization said.

Fifty-two people have been confirmed killed in the two blasts that hit a west Siberian coal mine at the weekend, a regional emergencies ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Turkmenistan's parliament has adopted a law to reduce the country's maximum prison sentence from 25 to 15 years, a parliament source said on Tuesday.

The Kyrgyz authorities asked Latvian prosecutors to arrest the younger son of ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Maxim, who is allegedly hiding in the Baltic state, a spokesman for the Latvian Prosecutor General's Office said.

U.S. President Barack Obama has revived a civil nuclear agreement with Russia by resubmitting it for consideration with the Congress after Washington froze the deal almost two years ago.

Former U.S. President George Bush withdrew the deal, signed in Moscow on May 6, 2008, from U.S. Congress in September of the same year, following Russia's brief war with American ally Georgia over its former republic of South Ossetia.

In a letter addressed to U.S. lawmakers Obama said "I am pleased to transmit my written approval of the proposed Agreement and determination that the proposed Agreement will promote, and will not constitute an unreasonable risk to, the common defense and security."

The U.S. president added that the situation in Russia's North Caucasus and Georgia no longer obstructs the agreement.

"The situation in Georgia need no longer be considered an obstacle to proceeding with the proposed Agreement; and that the level and scope of U.S.-Russia cooperation on Iran are sufficient to justify resubmitting the proposed Agreement to the Congress," he said.

The agreement would open up possibilities for widespread commercial nuclear trade, technology exchange, and joint nuclear research between Washington and Moscow. It would also clear the way for Russia to make headway with importing and storing spent nuclear fuel from U.S.-supplied reactors - a highly profitable business.

RIA Novosti