Main news of October 6

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours.

WORLD

* At least 27 servicemen were killed when a Tajik military helicopter crashed in the mountainous Rasht valley in eastern Tajikistan, a police source said.

* Tehran is still negotiating the purchase of S-300 air defense missile systems with Moscow, the Iranian defense minster said.

* Ukraine is close to finalizing an Association Agreement with the EU, President Viktor Yanukovych said.

* Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has assured British Prime Minister David Cameron that Ukraine will remain a democratic state, despite the recent reversal of a 2004 reform that curbed presidential powers.

* Ukraine's parliament voted to support a recent decision to reverse a 2004 reform that curbed presidential powers.

* Five Russian nationals are still wanted in the U.S. on suspicion of being involved in a large-scale banking fraud, a Russian vice consul in New York told RIA Novosti.

RUSSIA

* The southern Russian republic of Chechnya has introduced a fine of 1 million rubles for bride kidnapping, the press service of the Chechen government said.

* Acting Moscow Mayor Vladimir Resin has joined the ruling United Russia party, the head of the party's Moscow branch said.

* The investigation into the murder of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya will be extended until February 2011, a spokesman for Russia's investigative committee said.

BUSINESS

* Russia is not is not going to revise its gas contract with Belarus as there are no problems with the current agreement, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said.

* Gazprom does not rule out a possible purchase of BP's assets in Algeria, the Russian energy giant's CEO said.

* California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will lead a delegation of U.S. venture capitalists from Silicon Valley to Russia on October 10, Russia's hi-tech government corporation Rosnano said.

* Imports to Russia from countries other than former Soviet republics increased 35.4 percent in January-September 2010 to $135.5 billion, the Federal Customs Service said.

* The tax burden on Russian businesses will increase by 2.3 percent in 2011 and 3.6 percent in 2013 compared with the current year, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said.