RUSSIA
* Metropolitan Kirill has been elected head of the Russian Orthodox Church, becoming the 16th Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
* Russia dismissed claims by Ukraine that the Black Sea Fleet is violating a 1997 bilateral agreement on the deployment of warships at naval bases on Crimean Peninsula , a Russian Foreign Ministry source said
* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said that his biggest fault is that he is too trusting
WORLD
* The Ukrainian gas transportation system is a guarantee of Ukraine's energy independence and will remain in state hands, the country's Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchinov announced
BUSINESS