- Russia is concerned over Georgia's active acquisition of weapons
- Georgia is seeking a military solution to conflicts with its two breakaway republics, South Ossetia and Abkhazia
- Russia has no plans to annex Georgian territory
- The OSCE documented an assault of two Russian servicemen in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia
* Russia hopes the chairman of the UN Security Council will adopt a statement on Georgia today, Russia's envoy to the organization said
* Two Russian Emergency Situations Ministry planes with the families of Russian organizations' employees on board left Tbilisi
* The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a security alliance between seven former Soviet republics, has urged Georgia to free four Russian servicemen detained in the country, the CSTO secretariat said
* Russian long-range aircraft fired four cruise missiles during a routine check, the commander of Russia's Long-Range Aviation Command said
* Russia should not resort to military force in an effort to resolve its conflict with Georgia over the arrest of a group of army officers, Konstantin Kosachev, head of the International Relations Committee in parliament's lower house, said
* Russia's Ambassador to Georgia, Vyacheslav Kovalenko, said a furor over four Russians charged in Tbilisi with spying was an insult, and vowed to return to the Caucasus state only when the officers have been released
* A spent nuclear fuel storage facility, whose construction was funded and controlled by Britain, was inaugurated in northern Russia
* Andranik Saribekov, the lawyer for the four Russian officers charged with espionage in Georgia said:
- he was not admitted to the courtroom
- the Tbilisi City Court remanded four Russian servicemen accused of spying in custody for two months
* The board of Unified Energy System has made a decision on an additional issue of Moscow's electricity producer Mosenergo shares in favor of a strategic investor, the electricity monopoly's news service said
* Sibur Holding, a leading Russian petrochemical producer, said its board of directors has approved the creation of a subsidiary in Belarus
* Ukraine's accession to the World Trade Organization will not harm progress in trade relations with Russia, Economics Minister Volodymyr Makukha said
* Russia could impose financial and economic sanctions against Georgia following a series of arrests of Russian officers in Tbilisi, Lyubov Sliska, the first deputy speaker of the State Duma, said
* Russia will not surrender to Georgia Lieutenant Colonel Konstantin Pichugin, a Russian intelligence officer suspected of espionage, a Russian Embassy official said
* Russian President Vladimir Putin said annual inflation in August stood at 9.5%
* Russian energy giant Gazprom said:
- it has completed a deal to buy a 19.4% stake in independent gas producer Novatek
- it has extended contracts for natural gas supplies to Austria from 2012 until 2027
* Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref said:
- Russia's declining volume of exports could reduce the annual GDP growth rate by up to 2 percentage points
- Russia's Stabilization Fund is expected to reach 8.5% of GDP by the end of this year, and 13% of GDP by the end of 2007
* The Georgian Interior Ministry said:
- four Russian servicemen have been officially charged with espionage and one has been released
- one serviceman arrested Wednesday is Georgian and not Russian
* A stretch of a pipeline in the Sakhalin II energy project has been illegally laid through the territory of a national preserve, Russia's environmental watchdog said
* A Soyuz spacecraft with the 13th crew of the International Space Station and the first female space tourist landed safely in Kazakhstan early Friday
* Russia will deliver a new oxygen regeneration system to the International Space Station in spring 2007, a Russian Space Agency official said
