January 1
* Turkmenistan stops supplying natural gas for the pipeline systems of Russia and Ukraine from midnight due to the start of restoration and repair work
January 11
* Ukraine's Central Election Commission officially declares Viktor Yushchenko as the winner of the country's presidential election
January 12
* Tajik, Russian and Iranian representatives sign a contract on the construction of hydropower plants in Tajikistan
January 17
* The Moscow City Court sentences Chechen Zara Murtazalieva to nine years in a general-security prison for preparing terrorist attacks that were foiled in Moscow the previous year
January 22
* Minister of Health and Social Development Mikhail Zurabov acknowledges he is responsible for the poor implementation of a new law to replace social benefits in-kind with cash payments
January 25
* The newly elected president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, distributes top state posts among his supporters. Yuliya Tymoshenko becomes acting premier
January 26
* Russian presidential economic adviser Andrei Illarionov refuses to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos because the organizers allegedly refuse him permission to speak on the Kyoto protocol
January 27
* Speaking in Strasbourg, British MP Malcolm Bruce says members of the Yukos board have applied to the British authorities for political asylum
January 30
* Russian tennis star Marat Safin beats home favorite Lleyton Hewitt 1:6, 6:3, 6:4, 6:4 to win the Australian Open
January 31
* South Korea says it is willing to contribute the construction of the Taishet-Nakhodka oil pipeline, which will help the country ensure its oil security by increasing imports of Russian crude
February 1
* Latvia refuses to regard ethnic Russians, Lithuanians, and Ukrainians resident in the country as national minorities, meaning that the European framework convention on the protection of national minorities does not apply to them, or other national minorities who came to Latvia from the Soviet Union
* Russia pays off its entire debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ahead of schedule
* The Russian Economic Development and Trade Ministry reports a 7.1% increase in Russia's GDP in 2004
February 2
* President Vladimir Putin tells World Bank President James Wolfensohn that Russia does not need substantial financial support from world financial institutions any longer
February 3
* Georgia's Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and regional governor Raul Yusupov die of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning. Georgia invites FBI experts to investigate the case
* President Vladimir Putin announces that Russia is holding talks over the early settlement of its debts to the Paris Club
February 4
* Britain's Channel 4 television broadcasts a long interview with Shamil Basayev, the Chechen warlord responsible for terrorist attacks and the deaths of 331 people in the Beslan school siege in September 2004, who threatened to perpetrate new Beslan-type terrorist acts in Russia
* Russian exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky said, referring to "reliable" sources, that Chechen militants had a nuclear bomb
February 5
* The new Ukrainian Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko, comes into office
February 8
* The number of Russian dollar billionaires increases from 25 to 39 in a year, according to the Russian magazine Finance, which publishes annual ratings of Russian billionaires
* Putin's economic adviser Andrei Illarionov says ratification of the Kyoto protocol is a strategic mistake for Russia
February 10
* North Korea announces its withdrawal from six-nation talks on its nuclear programs and admits for the first time that it has its own nuclear weapons
* Russia makes its largest IPO since the London Stock Exchange began trading in Global Depositary Receipts for shares in the Russian financial corporation Sistema, with the controlling stake's holder planning to raise $1.35 billion
February 11
* The Russian government says it will make $105-135 billion under a program for developing its shelf oil and gas deposits, expecting annual oil and gas production from shelf deposits in 2020 to reach 95 million metric tons and 320 billion cubic meters, respectively.
February 12
* Embattled oil company Yukos files a lawsuit against Gazprom, Gazpromneft, Baikal Finance Group and Rosneft, seeking over $20 billion in compensation for damages
February 15
* Russia's two main liberal parties Yabloko, and the Union of Right Forces discuss formation of a united democratic political party
February 16
* The Russian Natural Resources Ministry announces plans to put up for auction forty prospective oil and gas fields in eastern Siberia in 2006. The reserves totals 24 million metric tons of oil, 141 billion cubic meters of gas; and resources of one billion metric tons of oil and 3.3 trillion cubic meters of gas
February 18
* Moldovan authorities expel six Russian citizens representing non-governmental human rights organizations on charges of unlawful activities in connection with the upcoming election campaign in Moldova
* Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposes a Union of Central Asian States
February 21
* The Moscow Arbitration Court of Appeal rules that embattled oil company Yukos should pay $4 billion in back taxes and penalties for 2002
* Great Britain, as the president of the G8 club of rich nations in 2005, opposes a proposal made by some U.S. senators to expel Russia from the G8 because of ostensible human rights violations and pressure on business
February 22
* Rosneft and the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOS) sign an interim agreement to develop a jointly 60,000 sq. km. part of the western Kamchatka shelf in the Far East
February 24
* The Russian and U.S. presidents meet in Bratislava to discuss relations between the two countries and the global situation
March 1
* The Caspian Pipeline Consortium of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Oman decides to increase the annual capacity from 28 to 67 million metric tons of oil and raise the pumping tariff from 27 to 29.5 dollars per metric ton
March 2
* The Moscow Arbitration Court dismisses Yukos's appeal against a back tax bill of tax 192.5 billion rubles ($6.7 billion) in back taxes for 2002
March 3
* A Texas court dismisses a Yukos appeal to reconsider its bankruptcy application in the United States, upholding an earlier verdict that a U.S.-based court had no jurisdiction to consider the Yukos affair
March 4
* Former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Kravchenko, who was to be questioned in connection with the murder of investigative journalist Heorgiy Congadze, allegedly commits suicide
March 7
* The opposition in Kyrgyzstan urges an extraordinary session of parliament to address mass protests across the country following the first round of parliamentary elections on February 27
March 8
* Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and Estonian President Arnold Ruutel say they have declined Russia's invitation to attend VE Day celebrations in Moscow on May 9
March 9
* Chechen warlord and ex-president Aslan Maskhadov is reported dead during a Federal Security Service (FSB) operation in the republic March 8
* Vladimir Putin approves amendments to a law on insurance in Russia, thereby allowing foreigners access to the country's insurance market
March 10
* Twelve die people and one is injured when a Russian MI 8 military helicopter crashes in Chechnya
* The Georgian parliament passes a resolution demanding Russia's military withdrawal from Georgia by January 1, 2006
March 11
* Venezuela signs its first contract for the purchase of 10 Russian-made military helicopters worth $120 million
March 12
* The Moldovan Prosecutor General's Office arrested former Defense Minister Valery Pasat, an adviser to Russian utility Unified Energy System, for allegedly selling 21 MIG-29 jet fighters to the U.S. for $80 million in 1997
March 16
* Twenty-eight people die when a Russian An-24 plane with 52 people on board crashes during landing in the north of European Russia
March 17
* Anatoly Chubais, CEO of the Russian electricity giant UES, survives an assassination attempt outside Moscow
March 23
* Russia's LUKoil oil major takes control of the Finnish oil groups Teboil AB and Suomen Petrooli Oy in a 120 million-euro deal
March 24
* Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev flees the country and Prime Minister Nikolai Tanayev files his resignation after protesters seize the government building and the president's office in Bishkek
March 25
* The Kyrgyz parliament approves Kurmanbek Bakiyev's appointment as Kyrgyzstan's acting president and prime minister
March 29
* Gazprom and LUKoil sign a strategic partnership agreement for 2005-2014 that stipulates joint efforts in Siberia, the Caspian, Uzbekistan, and other regions
March 30
* Russia's Vneshekonombank bank makes a final payment, 699 million euros, to Deutsche Bank, paying off a 1998 foreign-bonded loan
April 2
* Pope John Paul II passes away at the age of 84
April 4
* Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev tenders his resignation
April 7
* Tennis star Maria Sharapova said she would not play for Russia's national team next year
* Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom and Royal Dutch/Shell group agree to exchange about 20% in the company's Sakhalin-II stake for a 50% stake in the Zapolyarnoye project in western Siberia
April 10
* Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the ex-chief of the Yukos oil major, denies all the charges against him in his final statement in court
* Russia's Space Agency and Arianespace sign a final agreement in Moscow for Russian Soyuz ST booster rockets to be launched from the Kourou space center in French Guiana
* President Vladimir Putin says in Hannover, Germany, that Russian natural gas giant Gazprom and Germany's BASF company have inked an agreement to get the North European Gas Pipeline project off the ground
April 11
* The parliament of Kyrgyzstan accepts the resignation of President Askar Akayev, setting presidential elections for July 10
April 12
* Russia, Greece and Bulgaria sign a memorandum on the construction of an oil pipeline from the Black Sea port of Burgas in Bulgaria to the Mediterranean port of Alexandroupolis in Greece
April 15
* A Soyuz spaceship takes the 11th Russian-U.S. ISS crew to the station
* A U.S. court considers the case against U.S. woman, Irma Pavlis, 33, accused of killing a six-year-old Russian boy she adopted
April 16
* Russian border guards start leaving the Tajik-Afghan border
April 20, Wednesday
* Cardinal Ratzinger is elected Pope Benedict XVI
* President Vladimir Putin meets U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Moscow
April 22, Friday
* Latvia's President Vaira Vike-Freiberga says she will not sign a Latvian-Russian border agreement in Moscow May 10
* The lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, approves in the final reading a bill on electing Duma deputies on the basis of party lists
April 26
* Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov says Strelets surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems will be supplied to Syria
April 27
* In his address to the League of Arab States in Cairo, President Vladimir Putin elaborates on the Middle East settlement, and proposes a Middle East peace conference in Russia
April 28
* Russian President Vladimir Putin bans sales of Iskander missiles, weapons having an operational range of 300km, to Syria after talks with Israeli President Moshe Katsav
April 29
* Latvian authorities sanction a march of former SS officers in Riga, causing an uproar in Russia
May 2
* Former Russian Nuclear Power Minister Yevgeny Adamov is arrested in Bern at the request of U.S. authorities, who accuse him of misappropriating $9 million granted to Russia for improving its nuclear facilities
May 9
* Celebrations of the 60th anniversary of V-E Day are held across Russia with foreign leaders attending events in Moscow
May 10
* Russia and the European Union adopt roadmaps on four common spaces: economics; freedom, security, and justice; external security; and research, education, and culture, at a summit in Moscow
May 13
* Militants seize a prison and government buildings in the Uzbek city of Andijan and a crackdown by the security forces and police follows. The disturbances leave 187 people killed, according to official data, and more than 700, according to human rights groups
* Russia signs an agreement with the Paris Club of Creditor Nations on paying off nearly a third ($15 billion) of its debt at par and ahead of schedule marking the largest national debt repayment in the history of this informal organization
May 16
* The reading of the verdict of former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partners Platon Lebedev and Andrei Krainov begins at the Moscow Meshchansky Court
May 23
* A major Russian-U.S. military exercise, Torgau-2005, begins in Moscow and the Moscow Region
May 25
* A major power outage hits Moscow following an accident at an outdated substation outside Moscow. In all, 6 million people are affected as public transport is paralyzed and homes, shops, and hospitals are left without power
May 30
* Russia begins the pullout of its military bases from Georgia
May 31
* The Meshchansky Court sentences former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and his business partner Platon Lebedev to nine years in prison
June 1
* Vladimir Putin signs a federal law on ratifying an additional agreement on the eastern section of the Russian-Chinese border, putting an end to territorial dispute that has lasted for decades
June 8
* The Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, ratifies an agreement between Russia and Kazakhstan on extending Russia's lease of the Baikonur space launch facility until 2050.
June 10
* Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov says Russia reserves the right to deliver preventive strikes on border areas of neighboring post-Soviet republics in the event of a direct threat of terrorism.
June 16
* The board of energy giant Gazprom approves a decision to sell 10.74% of its shares to the state for 203.5 billion rubles (about $7 billion).
June 22
* Medieval ceramics are found on the floor of the Volkhov River, near the northwestern Russian town of Veliky Novgorod.
June 24
* The state acquires 10.74% of the shares in the Gazprom, thereby acquiring a controlling share in the company
June 28
* Gazprom and the French oil and gas company Total sign a memorandum on the development of the Shtokman natural gas field in the Barents Sea
* The parties to ITER, a project to create an international thermonuclear experimental rector, sign a declaration in Moscow on the construction of the reactor in Cadarache, the south of France.
July 1
* Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Hu Jintao of China sign a joint declaration after two days of talks, calling for a stronger United Nations role in global affairs and speaking out against attempts to impose models of political and social development on sovereign nations
July 3
* Vladimir Putin meets with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac near Kaliningrad, for a trilateral summit timed to coincide with the Baltic city's 750th anniversary and focusing, among other issues, on its special status, which has been a major point of contention in Russia-European Union relations since last year's EU expansion cut it off from the rest of the country
July 5
* The leaders of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and China - the member states of the regional security alliance, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) - sign several anti-terrorist cooperation agreements at a summit in the Kazakh capital, Astana
* Former Russian Nuclear Power Minister Yevgeny Adamov, whom Swiss authorities had arrested on a U.S. warrant in May for allegedly diverting millions of dollars allocated for nuclear safety programs in Russia, refuses to be extradited to the United States
July 6
* The leaders of the G8 club of industrialized nations meet in Gleneagles, Scotland, for talks on climate change, globalization, aid for Africa and regional conflicts
July 11
* The Russian Prosecutor General's Office brings charges of fraud and abuse of office against former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, accusing him of acquiring a valuable piece of state-owned real estate through front firms on his last day in office
July 12
* Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and French Ambassador to Russia Jean Cadet signed an agreement that Russia would pay about 40% of its debt to France (818 million euros), its third major lender in the Paris Club of creditor nations, ahead of schedule
July 19
* After a break of nearly two decades, the Bolshoi Ballet returns to New York City's Metropolitan with a performance of Ludwig Minkus' Don Quixote, starting an extensive U.S. tour
July 23
* Vladimir Putin signs into law a bill on special economic zones, enabling the establishment of free industrial production zones and technology parks to attract foreign investment in the country's high-tech industries
July 29
* Russian authorities confirm an outbreak of bird flu in western Siberia, where poultry and fowl deaths had been reported July 11
July 30
* The first convoy of vehicles carrying military hardware leaves a Russian base in the Georgian province of Adjaria, in keeping with a May 30 agreement obligating Russia to complete the withdrawal of its two military bases from Georgia in 2008
July 31
* Russia says it will not extend U.S. television network ABC's accreditation in Russia for airing an interview with Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev, who claimed responsibility for the September 2004 school tragedy in Beslan, as well as a number of other terrorist attacks across the nation
August 1
* A fire breaks out inside a Victor class nuclear submarine that was being dismantled at a plant in the city of Severodvinsk
August 4
* A Priz AS-28 mini-sub with seven sailors onboard becomes trapped in a fishing net at a depth of about 190 meters (about 620 feet) in the Berezovaya Bay in the Bering Sea
August 7
* Mikhail Yevdokimov, 48, governor of the eastern Russian region of Altai, is killed in a car crash
* The Priz AS-28 mini-sub is rescued after three days when an unmanned British deep-sea rescue vehicle, the Scorpio 45, cuts the cables and frees it
August 10
* Kazakhstan's Ministry of Agriculture officially announces that an outbreak of bird flu has been registered in the country.
August 12
* The Peace Shield 2005 international military exercises involving U.S., Georgian, and Azerbaijani troops end in the Crimea, Ukraine. The troops practiced anti-terrorist measures, including disarmament and elimination of imaginary terrorist units, during the final amphibian-coastal stage of the maneuvers
August 14
* President-elect Kurmanbek Bakiyev is inaugurated as the president of Kyrgyzstan
August 19
* Russia pays off the bulk of its $2.3-billion debt to the Paris Club of Creditor Nations to be paid ahead of schedule
August 22
* The head the Russian Federal Transport Supervision Service orders the suspension of all IL-96-300 planes from service in all airlines because of manufacturing defects and the manufacturer's failure to correct them
* Maria Sharapova becomes the first Russian to top the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings
August 29
* Swiss authorities agree to extradite a former Russian nuclear power minister, Yevgeny Adamov, arrested in Switzerland in May at U.S. request, to Russia, but said the decision would depend on the U.S. position
September 1
* Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a resolution outlining Russia's intention to renounce a treaty on the Russian-Estonian border
September 5
* Bird flu virus is confirmed in 45 Russian villages, and 80 villages are still being tested for the virus
September 6
* Vladimir Putin says he will not run for the Russian presidency in 2008
September 7
* Gazprom sets the reference price for Russian natural gas supplies to Georgia at $110 per thousand cu m after a shift to market prices from 2006
* UN Secretary General Kofi Annan takes responsibility for the shortcomings of the Oil for Food Program at the UN Security Council hearing of the Independent Inquiry Committee's report on the program
September 8
* Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko dismisses Yuliya Tymoshenko's government, appointing head of the Dnepropetrovsk region administration Yuriy Yekhanurov acting prime minister.
September 10
* Russia and Belarus sign a contract to deliver S-300 air defense systems to Belarus
September 13
* The fourth round of six-nation talks on the North Korean nuclear problem resumed in Beijing after a month-long break
September 15
* A Russian Su-27 (Flanker) warplane crashes over Lithuania, but the pilot ejects from the aircraft
September 19
* The six nations negotiating to put an end to North Korea's nuclear weapons program adopt a joint statement on the principles of denuclearization
September 22
* Russia demands that Latvian authorities extradite oligarch Boris Berezovsky who arrived in Riga
* The Moscow City Court rejects the appeals filed by oligarchs Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev but reduces their prison sentences from nine to eight years
September 27
* Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom signs a $13.1 billion deal, the country's largest to date, to take control of the Sibneft oil major
October 1
* The Sakhalin-I international oil and natural gas project begins production in Russia's Far East
October 4
* The presidium of the Russian Arbitration Court rejects an appeal filed by Yukos and rules that its $3.5 billion tax bill for 2000 is legal
October 6
* Lithuanian prosecutors release the pilot of a Russian fighter that crashed in Lithuania in September
October 7
* Russia's chief of the General Staff says the Russian army will increase its weapons acquisitions by 50% next year
October 10
* Former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev are transferred from a pre-trial detention center to prison to serve their eight-year terms
October 13
* Militants attack the North Caucasus city of Nalchik. Interior Ministry troops repel the assault. The Interior Ministry of the Republic of Kabardino-Balkariya later says 24 officers, 12 civilians, and 72 militants were killed
October 14
* Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a bill on the formation of a new federation member that includes the Krasnoyarsk territory and the Taimyr and Evenk autonomous districts
* Oleg Lundstrem, the father of Russian jazz, died at the age of 89
* Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller says the company will hit record production levels of 547 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2005
October 18
* The Finance Ministry says foreign companies will be allowed to develop the country's natural resource deposits but with some restrictions
* A senior official in the Russian Tax Service and an employee of the Central Bank are caught taking a $1 million bribe
October 20
* Three hostages, including a high-ranking Kyrgyz MP and a human rights official, are killed by inmates at a maximum-security penal colony in Kyrgyzstan
* Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head of embattled oil giant Yukos, arrives in a local penal colony to serve out his eight-year sentence
October 21
* Roman Abramovich, Russia's billionaire and the owner of London's Chelsea Soccer Club, is sworn in as Chukotka governor for a second term
October 23
* The overwhelming majority of the local electorate votes at a referendum in favor of the Kamchatka and Koryakia to unite into a single Federation member
October 24
* The world's largest steel producer, Mittal Steel, won an auction for the Kryvorizhstal steel mill with a bid of $4.79 billion for 93.02% of the shares in the company
October 25
* Twelve shareholders in Russian embattled oil major Yukos file a lawsuit against the Russian government and oil and gas companies with a U.S. court
October 26
* The Supreme Court of Zurich sentences Russian Vitaly Kaloyev who lost his family in an air crash, to eight years in jail for the premeditated murder of a Swiss air traffic controller
October 28
* The board of Russian electricity monopoly Unified Energy System approves a credit agreement with Vneshtorgbank for the purchase of a 22.43% stake in Silovye Mashiny
October 31
* Oleg Kiselyov, the president of Renaissance Capital, one of Russia's largest investment banks, resigns in the wake of Interior Ministry allegations of attempted embezzlement leveled against him.
November 4
* Russia celebrates National Unity Day for the first time, which replaced the day of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution
November 8
* The European Court of Human Rights rules that the Ukrainian government must pay 100,000 euros to the wife of Ukrainian journalist Heorhiy Gongadze, who was kidnapped and murdered in 2000
November 9
* Reigning heavyweight WBC Champion of the World Vitali Klitschko announces that he is hanging up his boxing gloves due to a knee injury
November 11
* Russia's second largest mobile operator VimpelCom signs a contract to buy Ukrainian Radio Systems for $231 million
November 13
* An explosion at a petrochemicals plant in China dumps about 100 metric tons of toxic chemicals into a tributary of Russia's Amur River, though Chinese officials fail to inform Russia about the incident for days
November 14
* Vladimir Putin makes a series of new high-profile government appointments: Dmitry Medvedev moves from the Kremlin administration to become first deputy prime minister, and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov is appointed deputy prime minister
* Russian President Vladimir Putin and Uzbek President Islam Karimov sign an agreement on allied relations stipulating the mutual use of military facilities "to ensure security and maintain peace and stability if necessary"
November 16
* A collection of paintings from Moscow's Pushkin Fine Arts Museum is arrested in Switzerland in a long-running legal battle. The Swiss government later gives its permission for the paintings to be returned to Russia
November 17
* Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish and Italian Prime Ministers Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Silvio Berlusconi attend the opening ceremony of the Russian-Turkish natural gas pipeline Blue Stream in Turkey
November 18
* The Moscow Federal Arbitration Court upholds a decision to charge embattled oil major Yukos 170 billion rubles ($5.9 billion) in tax arrears for 2003
November 21
* Russia's Economic Development and Trade Ministry submits a package of legal acts to liberalize the stock of Russian energy giant Gazprom
November 22
* Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov postpones a visit to Ukraine to meet with his counterpart Yuriy Yekhanurov until the countries resolve the issue of gas supplies to and via Ukraine in 2006
* The Federal Arbitration Court upholds a ruling to charge about $4 billion in back taxes for 2001 from the Yukos oil company
November 24
* The Moscow City Court rejects an appeal in a three-year court battle to take the world's best-known cartoon family, the Simpsons, off the airwaves in Russia
November 27
* The North Caucasus republic of Chechnya holds parliamentary elections, with the ruling Kremlin-friendly party, United Russia, winning the majority of seats.
December 1
* Vladimir Putin instructed the government to revise and submit to parliament a bill on cutting army conscription term from 24 to 12 months starting January 1, 2008
December 5
* Nursultan Nazarbayev, the incumbent president of Kazakhstan, cruised to an easy victory in December 4 elections with a preliminary 91% of the vote
* The Moscow Election Commission said the pro-Kremlin United Russia party had taken 47.25% of the vote in the Moscow legislature elections on December 4, the Communist Party - 16.75% and Yabloko - 11.11% with all the votes counted
December 6
* The Moscow City Court opened preliminary hearings on the murder of Forbes Russia Editor Paul Klebnikov
December 9
* Russia's lower house of parliament approved a bill in the final reading enabling foreigners to buy energy giant Gazprom's shares
* Moscow's Arbitration Court of Appeals upheld the ruling to reduce 2001 tax claims against Russia's TNK oil company from 4 billion rubles ($138 million) to 4 million ($138,000)
* Alexander Borodyuk signed a contract to become a new senior coach of the Russian national soccer team
December 10
* Russia Today, the country's first 24-hour English-language news channel, began broadcasting at 1 p.m. GMT
* Ukrainian TV said a bird flu outbreak had been recorded in 19 settlements in the Crimea, an autonomy on the Black Sea
December 11
* Chechen Security Council Secretary Rudnik Dudayev was killed in a fire that broke out in a trailer within the Chechen government complex
* Iran agreed to Russia's participation in a transnational project to build a pipeline transporting Iranian natural gas to Pakistan and India
December 13
* Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom said it would stop gas deliveries to Ukraine if a contract was not signed by January 1
* Shareholders of the consortium for the construction of the North European Gas Pipeline agreed to appoint former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder head of shareholders' committee
* Russia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations adopted a declaration and an action plan for 2005-2015 at their first summit in Kuala Lumpur
December 14
* Russian energy giant Gazprom said it would charge $220-$230 for its natural gas supplies to Ukraine
* Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said the country was ready to raise tariffs on the transportation of Russian natural gas via its territory in 2006
* The upper chamber of the Russian parliament passed the 2006 budget and approved legislative amendments to lift restrictions on foreign ownership of Gazprom common shares
* The Ukrainian Health Ministry said the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, which is potentially lethal for humans, had been found in 11 settlements in Ukraine
* The 12 Russian sailors arrested in Nigeria in October 2003 for alleged oil smuggling were released
December 15
* Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev inaugurated the Atasu-Alashankou pipeline to export crude directly to China without crossing Russian territory
December 16
* A Moscow district federal arbitration court rejected an appeal filed by embattled oil major Yukos against a back-tax bill of about $3 billion for the year 2000
* The European Aeronautic Defense and Space company (EADS) bought a 10% stake in Russian aircraft manufacturer Irkut for $65.3 million
December 17
* Russia signed protocols on the completion of the WTO accession talks with Nicaragua and Paraguay at the sixth WTO Ministerial conference in Hong Kong
December 18
* Russia and Switzerland agreed to sign a final protocol on the completion of their talks on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) at a world economic forum at Davos in late January 2006
* Russian boxer Nikolai Valuyev became the WBA heavyweight Champion of the World following his victory over John Ruiz in Berlin, Germany
December 19
* Russian energy giant Gazprom said it was moving away from fixed pricing of its natural gas exports to Ukraine toward a price regime based on world oil prices
December 20
* Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli said Georgia would buy Russian natural gas at the price of $110 per 1,000 cu m in 2006
December 21
* President Vladimir Putin proposed sending a 200-strong contingent to Sudan in response to the UN Secretary General's request that Russia contribute troops to the United Nation's peacekeeping operations in the country
* The Russian cargo ship, the Terney, which had been held by North Korean authorities for more than a week, returned home
December 22
* Gazprom signed a contract on the construction of an underground natural gas storage facility in China
December 23
* Russian President Vladimir Putin signed legislation on the liberalization of Gazprom shares
* Gazprom Deputy Chairman Alexander Medvedev said his company would not supply Ukraine with natural gas if a contact had not been signed by 2006
* Gazprom and Georgia's joint stock gas distribution company Tbilgazi signed a contract on supplying up to 920 million cu m of natural gas to Georgia at a price of $110 per 1,000 cu m in 2006
* Russia and Canada signed a protocol on the completion of bilateral talks on the former's accession to the World Trade Organization
December 25
* A Russian carrier rocket successfully puts three navigation satellites into orbit, expanding Russia's global navigation satellite system, GLONASS, to 17 spacecraft
December 26
* The Russian Military Prosecutor's Office said it had dropped bribery charges against former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko, citing the expiration of the statute of limitations
December 27
* Andrei Illarionov, an outspoken critic of Russia's economic policies, resigns as Vladimir Putin's economic adviser
December 28
* The parliamentary commission investigating the 2004 Beslan school siege concluded that law enforcement officials in the North Caucasus republics of Ingushetia and North Ossetia were responsible for allowing the hostage crisis in Beslan to happen
December 29
* The Swiss Federal Court said former Russian Nuclear Power Minister Yevgeny Adamov would be extradited to Russia
December 30
* Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko proposed freezing prices for Russian natural gas supplies to Ukraine until January 10, when the gas talks resume. Gazprom said the idea was unacceptable
* Yushchenko said Ukraine was introducing a special regime to ensure Russian gas flows via Ukraine to Europe until a contract was signed with Russia, and also ruled out any revision of the treaty on Russia's naval base in Ukraine
* Russia's former nuclear power minister, Yevgeny Adamov, wanted for embezzlement in America, leaves Switzerland after local court rules to extradite him home
December 31
* Ukraine agrees to market gas prices, but wants to specify the figures. Earlier, President Vladimir Putin proposed to freeze up gas prices until the second quarter of 2006, if Ukraine agreed to Russian gas giant Gazprom's proposals
* Upon his arrival in Moscow, Russia's former nuclear power minister, Yevgeny Adamov, was put into custody and faced official charges of fraud and abuse of office, prosecutors said
