* Russian President Vladimir Putin told a briefing in Strelna near St. Petersburg:
- Russia will back an expansion of the Group of Eight if its partners in the club of the world's most industrialized nations voice such a proposal
- United approaches of the six international mediators to the resolution of the Iranian nuclear problem are the most effective
- Leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations will discuss the situation in the former Soviet Union, particularly troubled areas
- An oil pipeline running from Siberia to the Pacific Ocean is purely commercial and Russia is against concluding any inter-governmental agreements on it
- The establishment of international uranium enrichment centers, which Russia and the U.S. agreed upon Saturday, will give all countries access to nuclear technology without the threat of proliferation
- Israel may be pursuing other aims in Lebanon than saving two soldiers taken hostage
* Russia and the United States said a bilateral protocol on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization would not be signed at the summit, but would be inked by the end of October
* Russia's Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref:
- said veterinary control of imported meat proved to be the main stumbling block in Russia's talks with the United States over its accession to the World Trade Organization
- said Russia needed to raise domestic prices of natural gas quickly in the next five years
- praised the initial public offering of oil company Rosneft but said energy giant Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] was not about to follow suit
- said the issue of protecting intellectual property rights is no longer on agenda of bilateral talks between Russia and the U.S. on Russia's WTO accession
* The head of Russia's Federal Security Service said militants in Chechnya should lay down arms by August 1
* Yury Popov, Russia's ambassador at large and co-chairman of the Joint Control Commission on the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict resolution, launched a furious attack on Georgia after military police stopped and held his car for the second consecutive day, labeling the incident a "gross two-day provocation designed to disrupt the peace process"
* Russia's nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko:
- Denied foreign media reports that the country would sign an agreement on nuclear cooperation with the United States in exchange for altering its position on Iran
- said Russia plans to build at least 40 nuclear power plants within the country and about another 40 abroad in the next 25-30 years
* Russian President Vladimir Putin and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that they would promote bilateral trade in uranium and liquefied natural gas
* Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart, George W. Bush, adopted a joint statement on global efforts to fight nuclear terrorism ahead of a Group of Eight summit later Saturday, urging countries signatories to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to intensify cooperation in the sphere
* The presidents of Russia and the United States instructed their governments to begin talks on a cooperation agreement for the civilian use of nuclear energy
* Sergei Storchak, a Russian deputy finance minister, said:
- Russia will pay off its entire debt to the Paris Club of creditor nations by August 21 and will cease being its client
- Russia will make proposals on exchanging its former Soviet commercial debt in early September
* Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said:
- Moscow could see no sense in NATO's expansion into countries bordering on Russia, which poses no threat to the organization.
- his country was using contacts with Hamas to ease tensions in the Middle East
- Russia will continue to increase its spending on armaments
- Russia has invited all member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to join an anti-terrorism exercise in 2007
- Russia is prepared to examine North Korea's controversial nuclear programs at the UN Security Council if necessary
- condemned the recent escalation of violence in the Middle East and issued a stark warning that it could embroil other countries
