WORLD
* Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said that Russia would develop its own offensive nuclear force if NATO fails to come to agreement over the European defense shield
* NATO will continue its mission in Libya for as long as it takes, the alliance said after formally endorsing an extension of its campaign for a further three months from June 27
* Microsoft has denied rumors that the company was planning to hand over Skype encryption algorithms to Russia’s Security Service (FSB), the head of Microsoft’s PR department, Marina Levina, said
* Russian presidential envoy to Libya Mikhail Margelov said he was planning a trip to Tripoli and was ready to meet with Col. Muammar Gaddafi
* Abkhazia and South Ossetia reject the Georgia-sponsored draft UN resolution recognizing the rights of refugees from Georgia’s breakaway regions to return to their homes, an Abkhazian presidential envoy said
* Abkhazia will go to the polls to elect a new president on August 26, following the death of President Sergei Bagapsh on May 29
RUSSIA
* The head of the ruling United Russia party’s election commission said it was likely that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would head its list of candidates for parliamentary elections in December
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged businesses to allocate more money for environmental projects
* Russian athletes will now have to agree to give doping tests and abide by anti-doping rules when signing their work contracts, according to amendments approved by the Russian parliament’s upper house
BUSINESS
* European farmers, whose business was affected by the deadly E. coli outbreak that has killed 26 people, may receive up to 210 million euros in compensation (about $306 million), EU Farm Commissioner Dacian Ciolos said
* Russia and the European Union will be able to resolve all remaining issues concerning Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization at the forthcoming EU-Russia summit in Nizhny Novgorod later this week, EU President Jose Manuel Barroso said
* Ukraine is taking measures to diversify its energy supplies away from a dependence on Russia, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said
* Russia’s Yo-Auto, a joint venture between truck maker Yarovit and Onexim investment group, owned by billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, plans to initially produce cars with conventional gasoline-powered engines, Chief Executive Officer Andrei Biryukov said
* Russia’s state-controlled power trader Inter RAO UES may stop electricity supplies to Belarus over $54 million worth of debt racked up by the country since March, Russian business daily Kommersant said