* Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met in the Siberian city of Tomsk for talks focusing on energy security and Iran's nuclear program
* Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Ukraine would demand extra conditions for a tender to construct a new sarcophagus over the Chernobyl reactor that exploded exactly twenty years ago
* Czech, British, and Latvian ambassadors arrived in the Belarusian capital Minsk to observe a 3,000-strong rally organized by the Belarusian opposition to mark the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and to express support for their leader Alexander Milinkevich
* The Russian Foreign Ministry said diplomats of Russia, China, the U.S. and the EU3 (France, Germany and the UK) would meet May 2 in Paris to discuss a report from the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog on Iran's controversial nuclear program
* A senior Russian traffic official said there had been an average 238 deaths for every million people on the country's roads last year, more than double the European Union's 2005 average of about 95 road deaths per million people
* Russian presidential aide Igor Shuvalov said Moscow was not interested in seeing Gazprom monopolize the world market, but wanted the energy giant to form partnerships with foreign companies
* Russia's Progress M-56 cargo spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan docked with the International Space Station, bringing scientific equipment, fuel, oxygen, drinking water and fresh food for the ISS crew
* Russia's Defense Minister said the latest test launch of a ballistic missile equipped with new warheads had shown the nation could be confident of its own security until at least 2030
* Kyrgyzstan's Defense Minister Ismail Ismailov said a decision on the future of a U.S. airbase near Bishkek set up for U.S.-led operations in neighboring Afghanistan would be made after experts completed a study of the facility
