* Law-enforcement forces are involved in a gun battle with militants on the border of the republic of Ingushetia with Chechnya
* Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said the government would approve the Gazprom-Sibneft deal soon
* Russian utility giant Unified Energy System said it was completing the development of its environmental policy
* A policeman was wounded in a blast on the Kavkaz highway in the North Caucasus
* A Ukrainian delegation arrived in Brussels to discuss human rights issues with the European Union
