* Andrei Lugovoi, a key witness in the Litvinenko murder case, denied foreign media reports that he could be questioned again
* Hamburg police investigating the case of Dmitry Kovtun, suspected of having illegally transported nuclear materials, have requested Russia's help, a police spokesman said
* Interpol joined the investigation into the murder of Russian security service defector Alexander Litvinenko, the head of Interpol's Russian Bureau said
* Fugitive Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky said he was ready to meet with Russian investigators as part of a probe into Litvinenko's murder, but only on certain conditions
* Gazprom announced that the Sevmorneftegaz oil and gas company would be the sole customer for the design and construction of sea facilities at the Shtokman natural gas field off Russia's Arctic coast
* Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko said
- Gazprom will face the same requirements as other investors should it join the oil and gas project Sakhalin-II in Russia's Far East
- Russia will not agree to the Sakhalin-II energy project operator's doubling of its cost estimate to $22 billion
* Sergei Shmatko, head of Russia's nuclear equipment and services exporter Atomstroyexport, said:
- Russia could start preparing for fuel deliveries to Iran's first nuclear power plant in Bushehr in January
- Moscow and Tehran have agreed on stable funding for the Bushehr nuclear power plant
* The Russian government said it was imposing an oil export duty for Belarus at $180.70 per metric ton as of January 2007
* Russian police seized propaganda materials from the office of the United Civil Front opposition group, which is headed by former chess champion Gary Kasparov, to check them for extremist content, the Interior Ministry said
* Court proceedings on compensation for environmental damages inflicted by the Sakhalin-II oil and gas project in Russia's Far East are likely to start in March 2007, the environmental watchdog said
* Japan's economics minister said his country wanted guarantees that it would receive oil and gas from the Shell-led $22 billion Sakhalin-II project in Russia's Far East on schedule, in view of Russian energy giant Gazprom's possible involvement
* Russia's environmental watchdog will begin an inspection of the Sakhalin-I oil and gas project off Russia's Pacific coast in January, the watchdog's deputy head said
* Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko vetoed the 2007 budget and returned it to parliament, demanding higher social spending amid rising political tensions in the country, the presidential press service said
* Defendants in a long-running case on the alleged murders of six civilians by Russian Army officers four years ago in Chechnya admitted involvement, but denied the charges against them
* The U.S. space shuttle Discovery successfully docked with the International Space Station; NASA is investigating whether damage to the shuttle's left wing could affect its mission
* A Proton-M booster rocket successfully orbited Malaysia's Measat-3 communications satellite, the Russian Space Agency said
* Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, who is also a deputy prime minister, was elected chairman of United Aircraft Building Corporation by the board of directors, following his approval for the post by President Vladimir Putin a month ago
* Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's envoy to the country's parliament said the presidential secretariat is drafting amendments to the country's Constitution
* Russia's Foreign Ministry said the ban on rice imports introduced earlier this month was a non-discriminatory and temporary measure
* A Moscow notary, in custody pending a new trial in the murder case of Forbes Russia editor Paul Klebnikov, was hospitalized with a brain concussion following an epileptic seizure, his attorney said
