* A British citizen has been identified among the victims of a methane explosion at a coalmine in West Siberia, a spokesperson for the local administration said
* At least 62 people died in a fire at an old people's home in southern Russia and a further 35 people were rescued, the regional emergencies center said
* President Vladimir Putin declared March 21 a day of mourning for victims of a West Siberian mine explosion, a plane crash on the Volga and a fire in a retirement home in southern Russia, the Kremlin said
* The Ukrainian president's official visit to Moscow, scheduled for March 21, was postponed over a mourning period for victims of three major accidents that struck Russia in the last few days, the Kremlin said
* The president of Belarus, a transit nation for Europe-bound Russian hydrocarbons, signed a decree to charge rent for forestland under power lines, and gas and oil pipelines
* Russia's Security Council has denied reports in the U.S. media that Moscow issued an ultimatum to Iran over its uranium enrichment activities, the council's press service said
* Russian contractor Atomstroyexport has denied foreign media reports that many Russian specialists have left the Bushehr nuclear power plant construction site in southern Iran
* A subsidiary of Rosneft has filed a request with the Russian anti-monopoly watchdog to buy Yukos' shares due to be sold as part of bankruptcy litigation, the oil firm said
* North Korea has refused to continue the six-party talks on its nuclear program until the $25 million frozen in a Macao bank is released, Japan's chief negotiator said
* Russia's economics and transportation ministries approved a merger of Russia's two leading shipping companies, Novoship and Sovkomflot, a deputy economics minister said
* Russian Space Forces command said missile attack early warning radars would not be deployed on the premises of Russian embassies abroad
* Kazakhstan's Defense Minister Danial Akhmetov said the country planned to upgrade its Armed Forces with modern high-precision weapons in the near future
* Russia and Belarus have failed to sign of a new trade cooperation treaty, Russia's deputy economics minister said
* President Vladimir Putin told a commission responsible for defense sector cooperation with other countries that Russia should seek to develop weapons together with foreign partners
* Ukraine's Supreme Rada rejected the candidacy of Volodymyr Ohryzko for the post of the country's foreign minister
* Ballistic missile early warning (BMEWS) radars will not be deployed on the premises of Russian embassies abroad, Russia's Defense Ministry said
* Russian aircraft maker Sukhoi will start supplying SuperJet-100 aircraft to the country's largest air carrier Aeroflot by late 2008, Sukhoi said
* Lawmakers in Lithuania passed long-debated amendments to a gas law enabling the government to regulate gas prices regardless of a deal with the Russian natural gas monopoly
* The Kremlin press service said:
- Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany will arrive in Moscow for a routine visit Thursday, March 22
- President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Sergei Movchan, the head of the Russian Federal Registration Service
* The former head of the bankrupt oil company Yukos and his business partner must be transferred to Moscow for the investigation of a new money laundering case, Mikhail Khodorkovsky's lawyer said
* Relatives of the murdered former editor of Forbes Russia, Paul Klebnikov, said in a statement they were concerned with developments in the murder case and demanded that the suspects be arrested
