* The Russian government said it recommended that the president sign the Council of Europe's Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism
* Moldova's Prime Minister Vasily Tarlev said Russian arms in the self-proclaimed republic of Transdnestr must be removed by December 31, 2005
* Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov dismissed allegations made by Moldovan Prime Minister Vasily Tarlev that arms from Russia's bases in the self-proclaimed Transdnestr republic fell into hands of Chechen militants
* Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh said the country was ready to increase its presence in the Russian energy sector
* ConocoPhillips CEO James Mulva said the American oil major wanted to buy a stake in Lithuania's Mazeikiu nafta with Russia's LUKoil
* A Russian delegation to the United States, headed by Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko, met with representatives of major automakers
* The Moscow Bar Association refused to disbar three attorneys for jailed Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky
* The rating agency Moody's has upgraded the ratings of Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom, oil majors Transneft and Rosneft and Russian Railways to Baa2, with a stable outlook
* Russia has successfully launched a Kosmos-3M carrier rocket with a Russian Mozhayets-5 educational satellite and seven foreign mini-satellites
