* German investigators are considering the possibility that polonium-210 was smuggled through the country and might be connected to the radioactive poisoning of Russian security service defector Alexander Litvinenko in London
* Measures by Russian regulators are disrupting work on the vast Sakhalin II oil and gas project in Russia's Far East, the project operator said
* Russia's Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko confirmed that state-run energy giant Gazprom is in talks on possible involvement in the Shell-led $22-billion Sakhalin II energy project
* Yury Baluyevsky, the head of the Russian armed forces' general staff, said:
- Russia disapproves of U.S. plans to deploy an anti-missile shield in Eastern Europe, and believes the move may adversely affect global as well as European security
- UN Security Council sanctions against Iran may freeze negotiations on the country's nuclear program
* The industry and energy ministry said that the liberalization of Russia's gas and electricity prices will not affect household utility rates, which will continue to be regulated by the state
* The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said its board of directors has endorsed a 100 million euro loan for a Russian project aimed at upgrading the nation's fleet of medium-haul commercial jetliners
* Moscow has protested against the distortion of history and attempts to conceal the truth regarding Nazi crimes, including the Holocaust, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said
* A Moscow court sanctioned the arrest of a fourth suspect in an attempt to assassinate Anatoly Chubais, the head Russia's electricity monopoly and a pioneer of post-Soviet economic reforms
* Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized a U.S. proposal to discuss Belarus' human rights record at a UN Security Council session, saying the issue has nothing to do with the challenges to global security and peace that the body was set up to address
* Belarus' Foreign Ministry called on the U.S. to stop focusing its attention on the Belarusian opposition and begin discussing serious world problems at the UN instead
* Ukraine's parliament passed a final bill in a series of amendments intended to harmonize the country's laws prior to its accession to the World Trade Organization
