* Russian Prosecutor General's Office said it had opened a criminal case against former Yukos President Steven Theede and other senior managers of the bankrupt oil company
* A source in a Moscow appeals court said Yukos Oil Company had filed an appeal against a court ruling declaring it bankrupt
* The Moscow City Court sentenced Alexei Pichugin, former security chief of the now bankrupt Yukos Oil Company, to 24 years in prison for two murders and organizing an attempted murder
* The economics ministry said Russia would review its agreements on meat imports from the United States if October talks on Russia's accession to the WTO are a failure
* German Gref, Russia's economic development and trade minister, said:
- Russia's gross domestic product grew 7.4% in July, year-on-year
- a petroleum exchange would open in Russia in the second half of 2006
- inflation in Russia in the second week of August was 0%
- Russian companies increased their domestic investment by 10.8%, year-on-year, in the first half of 2006
- obsolete energy and transport infrastructure is becoming an obstacle to Russia's economic growth
- domestic prices for oil products rose 4.3% in the past two months
* Russia's Anti-Monopoly Service said it was taking action against mobile operators, Mobile TeleSystems, VimpelCom and MegaFon, in the wake of a check into new tariffs used by them for reciprocal settlements
* Vneshtorgbank, Russia's state-run foreign trade bank, said its net profit calculated to International Financial Reporting Standards had risen almost 400%, year-on-year, in the first quarter of 2006 to $334 million
* Head of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Nikolai Bordyuzha, said Uzbekistan had been readmitted to the post-Soviet security group
* Ukraine's deputy prime minister said the country's natural gas deficit until the end of the year stood at 8 billion cubic meters
* A Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman said senior officials from Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova would discuss the formation of a joint military force at closed-doors meeting Thursday in the Georgian capital
