#3 - JRL 7176
Russia slashes intl. transport over SARS

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Russia. May 10 (Interfax) - Russia has drastically cut international transport to shield itself from SARS, slashing its air traffic by 40% and halving its cargo traffic to and from China along the Amur river, Russian Transportation Minister Sergei Frank said on Saturday.

"Only those checkpoints are being used for cargo transport which have reliable systems of sanitary control," Sergei Frank told reporters in Nizhny Novgorod.

He said that his ministry was accurately following all the recommendations of the sanitary service and that all Russian transport companies had been briefed on what to do if any SARS cases are spotted.

"It is people's lives and health that is our priority today. At the moment that is more important than business," he said.