* International ratings agency Standard & Poor's said Thursday that it had raised its long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating on the Russian Federation to 'BBB' from 'BBB-' and its long-term local currency sovereign credit rating to 'BBB+' from 'BBB'
* Russian energy giant Gazprom said Ukraine may fail to ensure uninterrupted natural gas supplies to Europe
* President Vladimir Putin said the state would support both Russian and foreign bankers working in the country
* Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov said graduates of military science departments would be exempt from military service as of 2008
* The families of the 14 victims of the recent swimming pool roof collapse in the Urals town of Chusovoi will receive compensation of $35,000 each, the pool owner said
* Preliminary tests have shown that an 11-year-old boy in the central Russian city of Voronezh may have contracted HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, from donor blood, the local health department said
* Leading Russian independent crude producer LUKoil increased its waterborne shipments of oil products to 9.4 million metric tons in the first ten months of 2005, an increase of 65% on the same period in 2004, the company said
* Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev inaugurated the Atasu-Alashankou pipeline, which will allow the Central Asian republic to export crude directly to China without crossing Russian territory
* LUKoil said it would invest $45 million in social infrastructure projects next year in a region in western Siberia
