Chirac, Putin Talk on New International Mission in MacedoniaFrench President Jacques Chirac and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Monday discussed the presence of a new international force to provide security in Macedonia at the end of the current NATO mission this month.Chirac called Putin on Monday morning and explained his opinion on the principles of next steps that international mediators and monitors should take in the Balkan country, said Catherine Colonna, spokeswoman of the French presidency. "It is unreasonable that all international presence ends immediately at the end of the mission of arms collection," Chirac was quoted as saying. "The number of civil observers must be increased and it is equally indispensable to prepare a military force to protect these observers," he said. The two presidents agreed to pursue consultation on this issue on a bilateral basis and within the United Nations, said the spokeswoman. French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine will meet his Russian counterpart, Igor Ivanov, in the coming days, she added, without giving a definite date of the meeting. On Sunday, European foreign ministers agreed in Brussels on the issue of a pending "security vacuum" in Macedonia when the current 4,500-troop mission of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ends as scheduled at the end of September once all the rebel arms are collected for destruction. "There is agreement that the European Union must remain involved," said Vedrine at the meeting. "One way or another, Europe must stand by Macedonia." But there was no consensus on the nature of an eventually new mission. Vedrine suggested that it should be open to non-NATO countries such as Russia, Sweden, Finland and Ukraine. |
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