* Participants of the Sakhalin II energy project off Russia's Pacific coast said they will assume all risks related to the project
* Russian President Vladimir Putin said the state will provide full assistance to the participants of the Sakhalin II project
* Gazprom said its net profit, calculated to International Financial Reporting Standards, rose 120% in the first half of 2006, year-on-year, to 332.2 billion rubles ($12.64 billion)
* Turkmenistan's president Saparmurat Niyazov died early this morning at the age of 66
* Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said:
- Russia hopes power in Turkmenistan will be transferred in line with the law following the death of President Niyazov
- Countries where radioactive polonium was found should avoid politicizing the issue
* Russia's Strategic Missile Forces have conducted a successful test launch of an RS-20V Voyevoda (NATO codename SS-18 Satan) intercontinental ballistic missile, the forces' press office said
* Russia's state-controlled foreign trade bank Vneshtorgbank (VTB) said it planned to float up to 23% of its authorized capital in May 2007
* Russia's finance minister said there is no threat of foreign capital's dominance in the country's banking sector as its share will not exceed 35% in the next seven years
* The Russian environment watchdog said it intends to strip Rosneft of 4 licenses to develop oil deposits in Siberia
* Japan's envoy at the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program said there were no prospects of a breakthrough in the current round of negotiations
* RWE Transgas, a subsidiary of German utility RWE AG that supplies natural gas to the Czech Republic, said it has extended an export contract with Russia's energy giant Gazprom until 2035
