(6 Jun 2001)
1. Federal Council
2. Stroyev waiting
3. Queen Beatrix enters
4. Cameras
5. Stroyev and Queen Beatrix exit
6. Talks
7. Queen Beatrix
8. Photographers
9. Stroyev
10. Talks
11. Federation Council atrium
12. Queen Beatrix and Stroyev descend stairs
13. Cameras
14. Stroyev and Queen Beatrix shake hands
15. Same
16. Flags
17. Queen Beatrix exit
18. Stroyev briefing
19. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Yegor Stroyev, Chairman of Federation Council
"The Queen of the Netherlands is a well-informed person and feels a great deal of respect towards Russia. It is evident that she is of Russian blood, was raised with Russian traditions and with the cultural ties that have existed over several centuries between Russian and The Netherlands."
20. Cameras
21. Stroyev exit
STORYLINE:
The Queen of the Netherlands continued her tour of Russia on Wednesday with a visit to the Federation Council, the upper house of parliament.
Queen Beatrix was welcomed by Yegor Stroyev, the chairman of the Council.
After their meeting, Stroyev said that his royal guest expressed great respect for Russian traditions and warm relations that had emerged between the two countries since the time of Peter the Great.
Asked about the possibility of restoring the monarchy in Russia, Stroyev said the country "should not return to what existed more than a hundred years ago."
Instead, Russia should "head for normal democracy and order," the chairman said, adding that he was glad the country "is living without shootings or unrest."
Earlier in the day, the Dutch monarch had met the Communist speaker of the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament.
The Queen was also scheduled to meet Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and was due to host a performance by the Dutch National Ballet in honour of President Vladimir Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, at the Moscow's Maly Theatre in the evening.
The Queen is accompanied by her eldest son, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, and high-ranking Dutch officials.
On Thursday, Beatrix is to travel to Nizhny Novgorod, where she is expected to visit a centre for training television journalists and meet former Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko, now presidential representative for the Volga River region.
Kiriyenko heads a new presidential commission responsible for the destruction of Russia's huge chemical weapons arsenal, a project funded in part by the Dutch government.
The monarch is then scheduled to travel to St. Petersburg, where her great-grandmother - Grand Princess Anna Pavlovna and the Queen of Netherlands after marriage - was born.
In the city, she will visit the Hermitage Museum, the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet and the Pavlovsk Palace.
It's Queen Beatrix's first visit to Russia since she became head of state 21 years ago.
The visit was initially scheduled for November 1998, but the Kremlin requested a postponement so that then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin could recuperate from a bout with pneumonia.
Beatrix last visited Moscow when she was still crown princess, in May 1973.
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