* Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said:
- Russia believed Iran would react constructively to a European offer to provide the country with a light-water nuclear reactor
- it was premature to think about imposing sanctions on Iran over its reluctance to abandon its nuclear program
- the invitation extended to Iran to attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization corresponded to the security organization's charter and rules
- Russia planned to continue its proactive involvement in the UN peacekeeping operation in Sudan
* Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Russia's nuclear agency, said:
- Russia's nuclear industry would prioritize the country's energy security and expansion onto global markets
- corporatization of state-owned nuclear power generating monopoly Rosenergoatom was to be completed in 2007
* Four soldiers were reported to have been killed and another four wounded in an attack in Chechnya
* Igor Konoshenkov, deputy commander of Russia's Land Forces, said Russia would start withdrawing its military base from Batumi in southwest Georgia on May 25
* Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said some 6,000 young people under the age of 18 were involved in extremist activities in Russia
* Russia's Air Force chief Vladimir Mikhailov said the service would receive two new Su-34 Fullback fighter-bombers in 2006
* Russia's state-owned TVEL Corporation said it had won an international tender to supply nuclear fuel to the Temelin NPP in the Czech Republic against American company Westinghouse
* Sukhoi Civil Aircraft said it had signed contracts worth $25.4 mln with German companies Brotje and Fooke on supplies for new aircraft under the Russian Regional Jet project
* A local police source said the acting head of a prison in the southern Russian region of Karachayevo-Cherkessia had been gunned down outside his home
* Russian air carrier Aeroflot said its shareholders had voted to approve a deal to buy 30 Russian Regional Jets (RRJ) from Sukhoi Civil Aircraft
