A brief look at the stories making headlines in the Russian-language press

The authorities were right to take the disturbances last week in the Astrakhan region village of Yandyki seriously, and the troops sent to keep the peace succeeded in ending or at least freezing a spiral of ethnic violence that locals say had been escalating for at least six months.

This week's summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States in Kazan is taking place in an increasingly competitive international environment.

Former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky wrote an article in Vedomosti, ""Left Turn,"" in which he basically called for the Communists and liberals to unite and overthrow the Putin regime.

Gazprom Meets Citigroup Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller met with the head of Citigroup's global banking division, Michael Klein, on Tuesday to discuss possible financing deals and cooperation on diversifying the gas giant's business Tuesday, Gazprom said in a statement. The talks come amid reports that Gazprom is preparing a bid to buy Roman Abramovich's 72 percent stake in Sibneft. The gas giant has been shopping for a $10 billion loan to finance the deal, a person familiar with the situation. Citibank has acted as a financial consultant for Sibneft for the past eight years and has also taken part in syndicated loan deals to Gazprom. Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov declined to comment on whether the two executives discussed a possible Sibneft deal. He declined to elaborate on what was discussed. (MT) Novolipetsk H1 Net Profit Net profit at steel company Novolipetsk was near flat in the first half of 2005 at 20.97 billion rubles ($735 million) in year-on-year terms, the firm said on Tuesday.