* Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Russia supported the use of preventive strikes to defend the country
* Dmitry Kozak, the Russian Presidential envoy to the South Federal District, denied an Israeli media report of the possible construction of a security barrier in Russia
* The U.S. Senate has requested that the U.S. State Department and the Pentagon prepare a report on U.S. and Russian non-strategic nuclear arms
* The six parties involved in talks on the North Korean nuclear problem said they were ready to meet their commitments as the fifth round of talks opened in Beijing
* A crowd of 60,000 people gathered in Baku's Victory Square to protest the results of Sunday's parliamentary elections
* Russia compensated Lithuania for damages caused by the Russian Su-27 Flanker fighter that crashed in Lithuania in September
* The Supreme Court of Russia rejected an appeal lodged by convicted Chechen terrorists who had earlier won a case against Russia in European Court of Human Rights
* The Federal Space Agency said a Russian Soyuz-FG carrier rocket had launched the European Venus Express probe on a trajectory toward Venus
* EU Commissioner for External Relations and the European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner said Russia could help the European Union persuade Iran to stop uranium enrichment activities
* British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the European troika of Britain, Germany, and France was against referring Iran to the UN Security Council
* Russian oil major LUKoil decided to establish a 100% subsidiary, LLC International, to produce and sell oil
* The heads of Russia's natural gas monopoly Gazprom and oil major LUKoil discussed joint projects in East Siberia and the Russian Far East
* Reigning heavyweight WBC Champion of the World Vitali Klitschko announced he was hanging up his gloves due to a knee injury
