* Vladimir Putin said he would support U.S. aircraft giant Boeing in Russia
* Boeing and Russian titanium giant Vsmpo-Avisma announced the establishment of a joint venture to assemble titanium products for Boeing passenger liners
* The idea of installing a pro-Tbilisi government in the troubled Kodori gorge in Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia is extremely dangerous, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said
* Russia's Air Force Commander said the new air defense system, S-400, would be equipped with new missiles by the end of 2006
* A Moscow appeals court reduced the Federal Tax Service's claims to Yukos from 353.8 billion rubles ($13.2 bln) to 311.8 billion rubles ($11.6 bln)
* Russian police said a fourth suspect had been detained in St. Petersburg in connection with the theft of almost $5 million worth of art from the Hermitage Museum
* Russia's Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said the country had submitted to the UN Security Council a draft resolution on Lebanon calling for an immediate and complete ceasefire for 72 hours
* Georgia's Foreign Ministry said the country had every legitimate reason to refuse a Russian peacekeeping role in international monitoring of a gorge forming de facto border between the breakaway region of Abkhazia and Tbilisi-controlled territory
* Talks on Ukraine's accession to the World Trade Organization are nearing completion, the presidential secretariat said
* Ukraine's new Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych said granting Russian the status of an official language in the country was impossible under current conditions
* Finnish President Tarja Halonen approved a draft agreement with Russia to convert into barter $30 million borrowed from Finland as a member of the Paris Club of creditor nations
