Putin, Chirac Talk by Phone on Bilateral Ties, Regional SecurityRussian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Jacques Chirac held a telephone conversation Wednesday evening on bilateral ties, Russian-EU cooperation and regional security.During the "long talks," the presidents discussed the ways of strengthening bilateral cooperation and the agenda for Chirac's visit to Russia due in this summer, the Kremlin press secretary Alexei Gromov said after the call. The two sides stressed the necessity of expanding the cooperation between Russia and the European Union (EU), exchanged views on the issues related to the Russian-EU summit scheduled for March 23 in Stockholm. The two heads of state also discussed the most pressing regional problems, especially the situation in Macedonia. They expressed concern over the rising tensions in Yugoslavia's province of Kosovo and on the Yugoslav-Macedonian border. They said that the international community must support the steps taken by Macedonia to defend its territorial integrity and national security and called for immediate joint efforts to end the crisis. |
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