- There is a desire, both on the Russian and Ukrainian sides, to look for compromise solutions in areas where they have not yet been found
- Russia is ready to consider the possibility of shipping additional amounts of gas to Ukraine
- The economic integration of Russian and Ukrainian enterprises is crucial to economic development and competition on international markets
- Cooperation in aircraft building, space communication, transportation and agriculture has a good potential
* The second phase of the fifth round of six-nation talks on the North Korean nuclear issue ended in Beijing:
- North Korea's nuclear weapons pose no threat to other countries but the future of the talks depends on the United States position, Kim Kye Gwan, the country's top negotiator at the talks said
- The six nations at the talks reiterated their commitment to resolving the dispute through dialogue, the host nation's envoy said
* Alexander Torshin, the head of a parliamentary commission investigating a terrorist attack on school No.1 in the southern Russian town of Beslan in September 2004 said:
- Aslan Maskhadov, Shamil Basayev and Abu-Dzeit orchestrated the terrorist attack on the school, but have all been killed
- Terrorists, not Special Forces, were to blame for the first explosion during the school siege
- Local police did not take appropriate measures to prevent the terrorist attack
* Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said:
- Russia is against the United States' plans to deploy an anti-missile shield in Central Europe
- A new early-warning radar has become operational in northwest Russia's Leningrad Region
- Russia opposes deployment of weapons systems in space
- Russia will allocate about 5 trillion rubles ($190.2 billion) for the federal weapons procurement program until 2015
* Alexander Medvedev, the head of Russian energy giant Gazprom's export arm, Gazexport, said:
- Russia's natural gas monopoly Gazprom signed three contracts on supplies of 1.1 billion cubic meters of gas to Georgia in 2007 at a price of $235 per 1,000 cubic meters
- The contract terms on natural gas deliveries from Turkmenistan to Russia will not be changed following Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov's death, said
* Russia will complete construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran on time, provided all financial and technical commitments on the $1 billion the project are met, Sergei Kiriyenko, the country's top nuclear official, said
* Turkmenistan's parliament has voted to remove the speaker of the Mejlis from office
* Turkmen opposition leaders forced into exile by President Saparmurat Niyazov are trying to secure Western guarantees for a safe return home following the authoritarian ruler's death, the head of Turkmenistan's Republican Party said
* Natural gas deliveries from Azerbaijan to Georgia have been suspended for several weeks for technical reasons, the Georgian prime minister said
* A section of a gas pipeline through which Azerbaijan delivers natural gas to Georgia has been damaged in a terrorist attack, a Georgian TV channel reported
* Russian natural gas deliveries to Armenia, suspended over a pipeline accident in Georgia, have been fully restored, Armenia's energy minister said
* Russian news and information agency RIA Novosti's Editor-in-Chief Svetlana Mironyuk met with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev in connection with the opening of an agency branch in the former Soviet republic
* Valentina Matviyenko was sworn in as St. Petersburg governor for a second term, following her appointment by President Vladimir Putin and approval by the regional legislature
* Russia's largest carmaker AvtoVAZ signed an agreement with Canada's Magna on joint development and production of C-class cars
* A syndicate of Russian banks and Cuba's Aviaimport S.A. have signed a $203.4 million credit agreement for 12 years to buy Russian Il-96-300 and Tu-204 passenger planes, Russia's state-controlled foreign trade bank Vneshtorgbank said
* A commission of the Russian agency for the management of mineral resources will consider revoking the license to the Kharyaga oil field, at which French oil major Total is operating, in late February, Oleg Mitvol, a commission member said
* No traces of radiation have been found on 17 out of 20 planes of Russia's leading air carrier, Aeroflot, which flew the Moscow-Hamburg route and are being tested as part of an investigation into the murder of Russian security service defector Alexander Litvinenko, the country's chief health official, Gennady Onishchenko, said
* Russia's Federal Registration Service has registered 189 offices and branches of foreign non-governmental organizations, an official with the service said
* A spill of highly toxic chloride forced residents to evacuate a village in the Perm Territory, west Urals, an emergencies ministry spokesperson said
* Russia postponed the launch of a Soyuz-2 booster rocket from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia for 24 hours due to technical problems with the Fregat booster
