- Russia and India are concerned about the growing violence in Afghanistan and plan to continue contributing to the nation's postwar reconstruction
- The international dispute surrounding North Korea's nuclear program can be resolved only through dialogue
- Russia and India call for a peaceful and diplomatic solution of the Iranian nuclear problem
- Russia backs India's bid for permanent UN Security Council membership
* Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his Indian counterpart Abdul Kalam as part of his two-day visit to the economically vibrant Soviet-era ally
* Russia and India signed two cooperation agreements on Russia's global space navigation system Glonass, which will be used by Moscow's long-time partner in the military-technical sector
* Russia's state-run Vnesheconombank (VEB) signed a three-party agreement with the Russian company Tekhnokhim Holding and India's Saraf Agencies Private Ltd. on establishing a chemical and technological complex in east India
* India's National Thermal Power Corporation and a Russian-Indian consortium signed an agreement on the technical and commercial terms of a contract to build hydropower facilities in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh
* Russia agreed to build four more nuclear reactors for India's Kudankulam nuclear power plant and other plants, in addition to the two units already under construction, a bilateral agreement said
* A Georgian court sentenced a Russian citizen to eight years in prison for attempting to sell 100 grams of high-enriched uranium in the ex-Soviet republic, an Interior Ministry official said
* Sergei Bagapsh, the president of Abkhazia, said Georgia did not give up its plans to resolve the conflict with Abkhazia by force
* Kyrgyzstan's parliament rejected the candidacy of Felix Kulov for the post of prime minister for the second time in two weeks
* Gazprombank, a subsidiary of Russian energy giant Gazprom [GAZP] said its net profit climbed 1%, year-on-year, in 2006, to 13.7 billion rubles (about $516 million)
* A court in the Voronezh Region in Central Russia sentenced four teenagers found guilty of murdering a Vietnamese national in April 2006 to four and a half to seven years in prison, an official of the Voronezh Prosecutor's Office said
* Georgia and Russia failed to reach agreement on Russia's entry to the World Trade Organization, as Tbilisi refused to lift one of its demands on Moscow, the Russian economics ministry said
* Boris Gryzlov, speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, said the lack of a free trade zone and a single emission center made it impossible to introduce a single currency for the Russia-Belarus union project
* Ukraine's government urged Moscow to obey a court ruling on the return of navigation facilities being used by the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the post-Soviet state's Crimean Peninsula
* The Moscow Arbitration Court postponed until February 9 hearings on a Yukos [RTS: YUKO] motion to declare the sale of its former core production unit Yuganskneftegaz invalid, and to receive $14.5 billion in compensation
* Russia's Maria Sharapova gained a decisive victory over Belgium's Kim Clijsters in the semi-final of the Australian Open, winning 6-4 6-2
