- The annual state of the nation address to the Russian parliament would be his last one, and the next would be delivered by another president
- Russia should suspend the implementation of the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty) until other parties to the treaty ratify the document
- Power generation is a priority for the Russian economy, in which 12 trillion rubles ($467 billion) will be invested by 2020
- The inflow of money used to interfere in Russia's internal affairs has been growing
- A corporation to oversee the nuclear power industry and Russia's nuclear defense capabilities should be set
- No less than 250 billion rubles ($9.5 billion) yielded from the sale of Yukos assets, improved taxation and privatization should be allocated to solve the housing problem
- The creation of a nanotechnology corporation should be accelerated and $5 billion worth of investment allocated for its development
* The Russian government approved the draft federal budget for 2008-2010
* Russia's Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said a corporation for the development of nanotechnologies in the country could begin to be formed as early as this fall
* Russia will triple the capital of its Development Bank, which is currently being formed, and double the capital of the first state venture company, a senior Kremlin expert said
* Russia and the United States are forming a working group that will focus on future bilateral relations and will be co-chaired by former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
* The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to provide new war funding and set a timeframe for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, defying the president's veto threats. The Senate approved the bill by 51 votes to 46
* The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously passed a draft law banning foreign countries from forming oil and natural gas cartels. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said a decision on making alliances in the oil and gas sphere is the sovereign right of countries
* The president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, arrived in Russia on an official visit to be dominated by discussions of U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense radar in the Central European state
* Javier Solana, the EU's leading foreign policy and security official, said progress had been made during talks with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in Turkey
* Gazprom's construction arm signed a 160-million-euro deal with its Syrian counterpart to build another gas refinery in the country, Russia's regional development minister said
* In Ukraine:
- President Viktor Yushchenko signed a decree postponing snap parliamentary elections until June 24
- Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych called the presidential decree on disbanding the Supreme Rada and holding new parliamentary elections on June 24 unconstitutional, the head of premier's staff said
- The ruling majority in parliament passed a resolution outlawing a new presidential decree to dissolve the legislature and postpone early elections until June 24
- The Party of Regions is preparing an impeachment of the country's president, but no decision has been made yet, a member of the party said
- The majority coalition deputies will contest President Viktor Yushchenko's new decree on elections in the Constitutional Court, a member of the Socialist Party's faction said
- The Justice Ministry proposed that President Viktor Yushchenko cancel his second decree to dissolve parliament and postpone early elections until June 24
* Serbia will never recognize an Albanian state on its territory in the event Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo is granted independence, the Serbian foreign minister said
* Kyrgyz prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for key opposition activists on allegations of inciting unrest, but have so far left their leader alone, the country's ombudsman said
* Police in Tallinn, Estonia, had to use tear gas to disperse protesters against Estonian authorities' decision to remove a World War II monument to Soviet soldiers
* The speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament, Boris Gryzlov, condemned the start of the exhumation and reburial of fallen WWII Soviet soldiers in the Estonian capital as obscurantism
* The captain of a Russian trawler, which escaped from Norwegian coastguards over a year ago, was acquitted of illegally holding people but fined for poaching
* The Greek Merchant Marine Ministry said more than 200 illegal migrants, including women and children, have been rescued in the Aegean Sea
