* President Vladimir Putin called on the member nations of the Collective Security Treaty Organization to consolidate their efforts to fight terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime, and to build a common air defense system
* Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref held the first foreign presentation of Russia's special economic zones in the German city of Frankfurt-am-Main
* The Federal Arbitration Court of Moscow revoked the decision to charge Russian beleaguered oil major Yukos $476 million in foreign syndicated debt
* Gazprom's deputy head Alexander Medvedev said the Russian energy giant would select a third partner for the construction of the North European Gas Pipeline (NEG) in addition to German companies BASF and E.ON AG by April 1, 2006
* Gazprom said it would raise the price of natural gas for Ukraine if the country rejected the company's current offer of $160 per 1,000 cu m
* Russian scientists warned about the possible contamination of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan as a benzene spill moves from China down the Amur River
* Russia's Federal Tax Service said it had collected about $160 billion in taxes for the federal budget in January-September 2005, a 32% year-on-year increase
* The Strategic Missile Force said all missile test launches in 2005 in Russia had been completed successfully, and showed the strong professional level of personnel, and the reliability of the missiles
* The first group of Ukrainian peacekeepers was withdrawn from Iraq
