- Russia's inflation rate from January 1 to May 15 was 5.6%
- Russia's GDP grew by 4.6% in the first quarter of 2006
- He hoped that the merger of Severstal (RTS: CHMF), Russia's largest steelmaker, and world No. 2 Arcelor would be finished by July 20
* President Vladimir Putin said Russia would make every effort to develop cooperation with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
* Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Russia would spend almost 5 trillion rubles ($185 bln at current prices) on a state armaments program over the next nine years
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said:
- Iran could receive guarantees on its civilian nuclear program if it alleviates the fears of the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency
- the Council of Europe's many demands on Russia had a political subtext
- the Council of Europe should open contacts with Belarus, and urged it against isolating the former Soviet republic
* An economics ministry official said the Russian government had raised its predicted GDP growth for 2006 a tenth of a percentage point to 6.1%
* Diplomatic sources said ministers from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany would meet in Vienna June 1 to continue efforts to break the impasse over Iran's controversial nuclear program
* The Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had prevented a bombing on a road in the southeast of the troubled North Caucasus republic of Chechnya
* Russia's economics ministry and German carmaker Volkswagen AG signed an agreement on construction of a car-assembly plant in the central Russian region of Kaluga
* A Ukrainian emergencies official said ten people had been hospitalized after an elevator plunged from the 23rd floor of the Ukrainian Transportation Ministry building in Kiev
* The head of the Russian Orthodox Church wrapped up a historic visit to Latvia and issued a call for unity, which he said the country's people want
* Transaero, Russia's second largest air carrier, said its 2005 net profit calculated to Russian Accounting Standards had risen more than 50% year-on-year to 180 million rubles (about $6.3 million)
* Armenia and Azerbaijan both claimed fatalities after a shootout between soldiers in the region of Nagorny-Karabakh, and accused each other of breaching a ceasefire agreement
* Yevgeny Primakov, head of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the Russian economy was making the transition from stabilization to development
* A special reporter for Russia's TVTs channel was found dead in a rented apartment in the Moscow Region
