* President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to revise and submit to parliament a bill on cutting army conscription term from 24 to 12 months starting January 1, 2008

* Chief of the Russian General Staff Yury Baluyevsky said Russia would defend its interests in the Commonwealth of Independent States and monitor NATO's presence there. He also said the Russian leadership would never agree to the de-militarization of the Kaliningrad Region

* The Supreme Court will hold hearings Friday on a motion to appeal a lower court's ruling against controversial nationalist party Rodina

* The government said Russia's customs duties on exports of crude and refined products would be reduced by 0.17% to $179.6 starting December 1

* A Moscow court sentenced a deputy property manager of Yukos-Moscow, Alexei Kurtsin, to 14 years in prison for money laundering

* Russian energy giant Gazprom said it would continue participating in tenders for the development of crude deposits in Venezuela

* The board of Russian railroad monopoly Russian Railways approved a joint venture with Germany's Railion Deutschland AG to handle international freight

* German company Siemens has requested permission from the Russian government to buy a stake in Silovye Mashiny, Russia's leading heavy machinery manufacturer

* The international rating agency Standard & Poor's has raised the long-term credit rating of Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft from a B- to a B+

* Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Chekalin said more than three million crimes had been committed in Russia this year

* Preliminary hearings on the murder of Forbes Russia Editor Paul Klebnikov have been scheduled for December 6