* Russian lower house of parliament demanded that the Iraqi authorities and coalition forces in Iraq conduct a full investigation into the abduction and murder of Russian diplomats in Baghdad
* The pilot of a Su-25 Frogfoot fighter died when his plane crashed in southwest Russia near the border with Ukraine, Air Force spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky said
* Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India's navy had put into service the BrahMos Russian-Indian supersonic anti-ship cruise missile
* Vladislav Surkov, a deputy head of the Kremlin administration, said:
- Russia continued to face threats to its territorial integrity
- technological cooperation with the West was crucial for the future of Russia
- Russia did not lose the Cold War but rather defeated its own totalitarian regime
- Russia should use favorable global energy markets to modernize its economy
* Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said:
- Russia had more than 140 youth extremist groups with overall membership reaching 6,000
- illegal migration had become one of the most pressing problems facing the country following the collapse of the Soviet Union
* Vladimir Yevtushenkov, the head of AFK Sistema [LSE: SSA; RTS: AFKS], said his company was considering investing more than one billion euros in Greece's economy
* Yevgeny Utkin, director general of Sitronics, a high-tech arm of Sistema, said the company planned to hold an initial public offering in about a year's time
* Socrates Kokkalis, the head of Intracom Telecom's parent company, Intracom Holding, said Sitronics had closed a 120 million euro ($150 mln) deal to buy a 51% stake in Greek company Intracom Telecom
* Patrick Ollier, head of the French Assembly's economic affairs committee, said Alexei Mordashov, the owner of Russian steel company Severstal, could make another bid for world no.2 Arcelor, but added that Mordashov had ruled out joining a three-way deal with Arcelor and Mittal Steel
* Amnesty International said it had given two Russian journalists and human rights activists special awards for their coverage of Russia's troubled North Caucasus region of Chechnya
* Technopromexport, Russia's state builder of energy facilities and electricity exporter, said it was planning to get involved in two power station construction projects in Angola worth a total of over $1 billion
* LUKoil [RTS: LKOH] said:
- its U.S. GAAP consolidated net profits had increased 43.1% year on year in January-March, to $1.689 billion
- its shareholders had voted at an annual meeting to raise 2005 dividends by 18% year-on-year
- it was looking to buy an oil refinery in Britain from British major BP
* Head of Russia's Federal Agency for Nuclear Power Sergei Kiriyenko said the country's uranium producing enterprises should be integrated into a single holding company
* Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Yakovenko said Russia was in favor of an Asian representative becoming the next secretary-general of the United Nations when Kofi Annan's term expires at the end of the year
