* Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said:
- Reducing poverty and providing greater support for public-sector pensioners are among the government's key priorities;
- Financing of infrastructure projects with money from the Stabilization Fund would feed inflation
* Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said:
- Russia hopes its strategic dialogue with Japan on global security will start next year;
- Leaders of the six nations involved in North Korea nuclear talks should remain focused and abstain from any inflammatory rhetoric or actions that may break off the negotiating process;
- The UN Security Council should try to reach consensus on Iran's nuclear program before the end of this year
* A small trainer plane caught fire and crashed in northwestern Russia, killing a passenger and a two-member crew, while a helicopter crash outside Moscow claimed two lives
* Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement urging Palestinian Authority leaders to search for compromise to overcome their factional differences after President Mahmoud Abbas' call for an early election sparked a new wave of violence between supporters of the radical group Hamas and the moderate Fatah movement
