* St. Petersburg's police reported about the discovery of another item stolen from one of the world's largest art museums, the Hermitage
* Russia's Prosecutor General's Office said its experts and their British colleagues had agreed to draft a series of agreements to improve cooperation, particularly extradition procedures
* Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych said a decision on Ukraine's accession to NATO should be taken jointly by the country's government, president and parliament
* Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said:
- It is premature to talk about Russian troops participating in a peacekeeping operation in Lebanon
- Sanctions imposed by the U.S. State Department against Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport and state-owned aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi Corporation over cooperation with Iran are unrelated to nonproliferation issues
* Russia's economics ministry said:
- It has revised its forecast for GDP growth in 2006 to 6.6% from 6.5%
- Inflation will not exceed 9% by the end of 2006
* Rosoboronexport head Sergei Chemezov said U.S. sanctions against Rosoboronexport and aircraft maker Sukhoi would not affect the state arms exporter's work but could have negative effects on the Russian Regional Jet project
* Russia's Central Bank said its assets as of July 1 had grown 25.4% in the first six months of this year to stand at 7.216 trillion rubles ($270.2 billion)
* The Moscow City Court granted a complaint from a descendant of the Russian imperial family against a lower court that refused to recognize the nation's last monarch as a victim of Bolshevik repression
