1.   According to investigators, far from fighting the problem of underreporting, the statistics committee was a willing accomplice.

2.   Seven violations have been reported at the Zaporozhskaya plant since the beginning of this year, but according to the statistics committee none of them have caused radiation leaks.

3.   The coal industry had the most work stoppages, the official statistics committee said, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.

4.   The statistics committee said the largest federal revenues came from the value-added, profit and excise taxes.

5.   The statistics committee said the continuing population decline reflected, in part, fewer marriages and a rising number of divorces.

6.   The statistics committee apparently included these people in the larger estimate.

7.   The statistics committee noted that life expectancy in Russia has slumped by four years compared with a decade earlier.

8.   The Russian economy grew by five percent last year, preliminary figures published on Wednesday by the state statistics committee showed.