* Ukrainian State Secretary Oleh Rybachuk said the Ukrainian Justice Ministry had drafted an official resolution declaring the parliament's decision to dismiss Yuriy Yekhanurov's government illegal
* Dmitry Medvedev, Russian first deputy prime minister and chairman of energy giant Gazprom said Thursday that he hoped Ukraine would become a partner in RosUkrEnergo, the company that will supply it with gas from Russia
* The RTS press service said ordinary shares in Russian energy giant Gazprom would begin trading on the Russian Trading System on January 13
* Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ruled out the possibility that his country might become part of the Russian Federation
* Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the development of trade and cooperation with neighboring Kazakhstan
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on Iran to resume a moratorium on nuclear research
* The embattled Yukos oil company said it had been paid the dividend due to it from fellow crude producer Sibneft, and will use it to help repay its back taxes for 1999-2003
* Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency, said Russia intended to restore the nuclear power industry network that existed during the Soviet period, and was initiating talks with Ukraine and Kazakhstan on the subject
* The Moscow City Court has submitted a declaration to the Chamber of Attorneys on infringements of professional etiquette by a defense lawyer in the murder trial of journalist Paul Klebnikov
