* Athletes from Russia's extreme northern Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area in Siberia, representing Russia at the XIX Arctic Winter Games in Alaska, won
two golds, one silver, and three bronzes on Day 1 of the games, which run through March 11. Representatives from Norway, Finland, Greenland, the United States, and Canada are also competing
* Striker Garry O'Connor from Scotland's Hibernian arrived in Spain to sign a contract with Lokomotiv Moscow, one of Russia's leading soccer clubs
* Russian national soccer team's captain, midfielder Alexei Smertin is reportedly about to complete a move from England's Charlton Athletic, which has the player on loan from Chelsea, to Dynamo Moscow
* The VII Anatoly Karpov international chess tournament will run in Russia's Siberian Khanty-Mansiisk region from March 18 to 28 and will feature the world's leading players. The list of players follows below:
- Viorel Bologan (Moldova)
- Alexander Onishchuk (the United States)
- Ruslan Ponomaryov (Ukraine)
- Aleksei Shirov (Spain)
- Ivan Sokolov (the Netherlands)
- Yevgeny Bareyev, Alexei Dreyev, Yevgeny Nayer, Sergei Rublevsky, Vadim Zvyagintsev (all from Russia)
* Russian women's basketball SuperLeague Division A results (host teams listed first):
- UMMC Yekaterinburg - Spartak Moscow Region, 70:61
- Nadezhda Orenburg - Dynamo Kursk, 74:71
- Vologda-Ñhevakata Vologda - Enzhe Kazan, 84:56
- Shelen Krasnoyarsk - Dynamo Moscow Region, 72:58
Teams standings:
1 VBM-SGAU Samara - 38 points (after 19 games)
2 UMMC Yekaterinburg - 35 (19)
3 Dynamo Moscow - 36 (20)
4 Spartak Moscow Region - 31 (20)
5 Nadezhda Orenburg - 30 (20)
6 Dynamo Kursk - 30 (21)
7 Shelen Krasnoyarsk - 29 (20)
8 Vologda-Ñhevakata Vologda - 28 (20)
9 Dynamo Moscow Region - 28 (21)
10 Baltiyskaya Zvezda St. Petersburg - 27 (20)
11 Dynamo-Energiya Novosibirsk - 23 (18)
12 Enzhe Kazan - 22 (20)
* Russia is seeking to build in 2007 a modern biathlon complex in the Krasnoyarsk Territory's city of Borodino, about 2,500 miles southeast of Moscow, to host major international biathlon competitions
