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Putin Denounces Publication of So-Called Secret Bush-Schroeder Talks
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the publication of so-called secret talks between US President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was a "provocation" aimed at derailing Russian relations with Europe.
Putin told a press conference here that those reports, published last Saturday by German magazines Focus and Der Spiegel, were unofficial and he had "no grounds to believe them."
Quoting from a 10-page diplomatic cable on the minutes of confidential talks between Schroeder and Bush in Washington on March 29, the two German news weeklies said the two leaders had agreed to withhold financial aid to Russia as long as vast sums of capital continue to flow out of the country.
"We have certain agreements with the EU and the creditors of the Paris Club. We proceed from the fact that our creditors are interested in maintaining such a state of the Russian economy that it can perform its obligations," Putin said.
Meanwhile, the president noted, "Every secret becomes known eventually."
A German government spokeswoman declined to comment on the issue, saying the government does not, as a general rule, have anything to say about confidential information obtained illegally.
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