- A demographic crisis is the most serious problem facing Russia and the government should give women financial aid following the birth of a second child to stimulate the birth rate
- Russia's defense spending should be comparable with that of any other nuclear power, but never at the expense of economy
- Russia's Armed Forces should be able to fight in global, regional and local conflicts simultaneously
- Russia has still not managed to eradicate corruption, and the government must fight all attempts by state bodies and business to profit personally at the expense of the common good
- The UN's role in securing international order is increasing, but the organization should be reformed
- Russia's WTO accession talks should not be used as a bargaining chip for issues unrelated to the activity of the world's top trade body
- Modern refining and transportation capacities should be developed to provide for Russia's domestic demands and implement commitments to the country's traditional partners in full
* Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said President Putin's objective of achieving ruble convertibility by July was realizable
* A source in the presidential administration said President Vladimir Putin's state of the nation address neither threatened businessmen nor called for a new round of the arms race
* Chief of the General Staff Yury Baluyevsky said:
- Russia and NATO will conduct joint theater missile defense (TMD) exercises in October
- Russia's army will be slimmed down to one million servicemen by 2016
* Russia's national team moved into the second round of the World Ice Hockey Championship in Latvia after defeating Slovakia 4-3 Wednesday.
* Officials said two of Russia's key state nuclear industry monopolies were working on a groundbreaking plan for joint participation in building nuclear power plants in Vietnam and Kazakhstan
* Silovye Mashiny (RTS: SILM), Russia's largest heavy machinery manufacturer, said its net profit calculated to Russian accounting standards had nosedived 99.6% to roughly $88,000 in January-March against Q4 2005
* Alrosa, Russia's top diamond mining company, said it had signed a memorandum on diamond supplies in 2006-2008 in Vienna with international diamond giant De Beers
* The Federal Customs Service said Russia's foreign trade surplus had risen 35.8% in January-March 2006, year-on-year, to $42.5 billion
* A Kyrgyz government source said President Kurmanbek Bakiyev had appointed Busurmankul Tabaldiyev as chairman of the influential National Security Service
