* Russian Railways (RZD) and Italy's leading high-tech group Finmeccanica may sign specific cooperation agreements in March, the head of the rail monopoly said at a news conference in Rome
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said:
- another session of an international group mediating Tehran's nuclear problem could take place before the IAEA submits a report to the UN Security Council
- a timetable for the gradual withdrawal of foreign military forces from Iraq has to be worked out
- Russia will respond in an "intellectual" way to moves by the United States to position its anti-ballistic missile defense systems in locations that threaten Russia
* Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said:
- Washington's plans to deploy elements of its anti-ballistic missile system in Europe may affect the military-strategic situation
- Russia will not allow itself to be drawn into an arms race
- granting independence to the Serbian province of Kosovo may set a dangerous precedent, triggering the disintegration of other states across Eurasia
- Russia is interested in helping NATO forces stabilize the situation in Afghanistan
* North Korea could give its answer Friday to the China-drafted plan to persuade the Communist state to halt its nuclear program, Japan's Kyodo News agency said referring to sources close to the six-nation talks
* U.S.-based oil major Chevron and other international giants are interested in acquiring Yukos assets, a spokesman for the Russian company's bankruptcy receiver said
* Azerbaijan's state veterinary service banned imports of poultry products from Turkey following an official announcement of a bird flu epidemic in one of Turkey's provinces
* The quartet of mediators for the Middle East peace process should consider lifting the international blockade of Palestine, which aggravates the situation in the region, the Russian presidential envoy in the Mideast said
* Osaka Gas has signed a preliminary agreement with Sakhalin Energy, the operator of a vast oil and gas project off Russia's Pacific Coast, on long-term deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the Japanese company said
* Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin will meet with his counterparts from the Group of Eight industrialized nations in the west-central German city of Essen this weekend, both in bilateral and unilateral formats
* Anatoly Chubais, the head of Russia's electricity monopoly Unified Energy System, said at a telephone conference:
- the merger between state-controlled energy giant Gazprom and SUEK is a great success for the Siberian coal producer but a mistake by the government
- The board of UES has invited a former deputy Gazprom CEO to serve on an investment panel at the electricity monopoly
* The board of directors of UES approved a long-term project aimed at boosting electricity exports to China, the company said
