* Russian energy giant Gazprom has reached an agreement with Uzbekistan to buy Uzbek natural gas at $60 per 1,000 cu m, with a transit fee of $1.1 per 1,000 cu m/100km, according to a source close to the negotiations
* The acting head of the European Commission's delegation to Moscow said the European Union and Russia were launching a new 3-million euro project to support the latter's accession to the World Trade Organization
* Anatoly Chubais, CEO of Russian utility giant Unified Energy System, said the nation's electricity consumption had hit a 15-year record high during the current spell of unusually cold weather
* Nuclear Power Agency Head Sergei Kiriyenko said Iran was prepared for detailed discussions of the proposal to conduct Iran's uranium enrichment in Russia
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the disagreement over the lighthouses used by the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine's Crimea would be resolved by legal means
* Oleg Safonov, President of the Russian Trading System stock exchange, said a new model to calculate Russia's main share index would be presented to stock market participants next week
* Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said a group of ships from the Black Sea Fleet had left the port of Sevastopol in the Ukrainian autonomy of Crimea to take part in NATO's Operation Active Endeavor
* International ratings agency Standard & Poor's said the higher prices of natural gas imports from Russia could stunt the growth of Ukraine's GDP
* The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said two people had been killed and 15 others injured in a blast in a furniture store in the town of Gus Khrustalny, in central Russia
