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Putin Never Planned to Attend Mideast Summit: Report
Russian President Vladimir Putin never planned to fly to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to attend the upcoming multi-party summit on recent Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Interfax reported Monday.
Putin has assigned Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to attend the Middle East peace meeting, "a source in Putin's retinue" was quoted as saying.
This week Putin will stay at the resort city of Sochi on the Black Sea coast, where he will meet his Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, the source said.
Putin and his wife flew to Sochi on Sunday evening to take a brief vacation, the presidential press secretary Alexei Gromov told reporters earlier.
Besides Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the Sharm el-Sheikh summit will also be attended by U.S. President Bill Clinton, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordanian King Abdullah.
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