News of the Day, 15:00 Moscow time

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said

- There is no link between the international dispute over Iran's nuclear program, and Russia-U.S. differences on Washington's missile defense plans for Europe

- He hoped the European Union and Romania would take measures to prevent the use of Romanian flags to undermine Moldova's sovereignty

* Valery Golubev, deputy chairman of the Gazprom management board, said:

- Russia is to cut its natural gas output by 10% annually over the next four to five years

- Gazprom plans to produce 492 billion cubic meters of natural gas this year

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has promoted Russia's permanent representative in NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, to the diplomatic rank of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, the Kremlin reported

* Russian energy giant Gazprom said that the natural gas pipeline rupture during the night in Turkmenistan will not affect supplies to Russian consumers

* The rupture of a gas pipeline in Turkmenistan, which caused a suspension in Turkmen gas supplies to Russia, will be repaired within two to three days, a source in the Central Asian government said

* Russian officials are unaware of any plans to hold popular French and Russian international air shows together, a deputy general director of Russia's Aviasalon company said

* Georgian authorities stepped up security in the capital ahead of mass demonstrations to demand President Mikheil Saakashvili's resignation

* Moldova will expel three Romanian journalists following the recent anti-communist riots in the capital Chisinau, a source in the country's intelligence services said

* MTS will offer BlackBerry, a leading wireless platform, to individual Russian subscribers by late April, the president of Russia's largest mobile phone operator announced