Bush Likely to Meet Russian President in JuneA summit between US President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to be held in June when Bush makes his first official visit to Europe, US officials said Tuesday.Bush is planning to meet Putin at the end of his planed four- nation trip to Europe, but the place for this summit had yet to be set, an official said. The White House had previously announced that Bush would make stops in Belgium, Spain and Poland, as part of his European trip. But the primary focus of the trip is the June 15-16 European Union summit in Goteborg, Sweden. Bush said earlier this month in a telephone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would "love to meet with him" before an upcoming summit of the Group of Eight in July. And Secretary of State Colin Powell told CNN Monday that he and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov "have been in almost constant conversation for the last week trying to find a convenient time for our two presidents to get together." "Both presidents, President Putin and President Bush, are anxious to get together and Igor and I have it as our task to find a place and a convenient time for them to meet as soon as possible. It'll certainly be no later than the Group of Eight meetings and hopefully before then," Powell said. |
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