Main news of October 14

* The Interior Ministry of Kabardino-Balkariya said 24 officers, 12 civilians, and 72 militants had been killed in the attack on the North Caucasus city of Nalchik, and none of the attackers had escaped

* Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said the company would hit record production levels of 547 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2005

* Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill on the formation of a new federation member that includes the Krasnoyarsk territory and the Taimyr and Evenk autonomous districts

* The Russian lower house of parliament approved the draft 2006 budget in its second reading

* International ratings agency Standard & Poor's raised its rating on Gazprom International S.A.'s secured exports notes from 'BBB-' to 'BBB'

* A Russian-French enterprise to produce engine parts for a new regional jet opened in Rybinsk near Moscow

* Russian Railways, the 100% state-owned operator of the Russian railroad infrastructure, said its container shipments had grown 12.2% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2005

* Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova failed to advance to the semifinals of the Kremlin Cup, a premier Russian tennis tournament with a prize pool of $1.3 million

* Oleg Lundstrem, the father of Russian jazz, died at the age of 89