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AFTER THE MEETING WITH PRESIDENT PUTIN
Statement by President Kucan
Moscow, 22 September 2002
The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, invited President of the Republic, Milan Kucan, to meet at a residence outside Moscow for talks on the occasion of the Slovenian President's stopover in the Russian capital en route to an official visit to Kazakhstan. The working meeting took slightly under three hours, starting with talks between the Presidents and continuing over lunch, where the heads of state were joined by their spouses Stefka and Ludmila.
Following their second meeting this year, which took place in a very relaxed and friendly atmosphere, the President stated the following in response to a reporter of TV Slovenia:
Question on the content of the talks?
The talks we held were very interesting. They revolved around all the crucial issues of the modern world. We spoke about its current shape and hot spots, from the topical Iraqi crisis, the Middle Eastern crisis, the Balkan crisis, to issues related to the globalised world, its negative aspects and the need to encourage the positive ones. We also spoke of bilateral relations and certain Slovenian initiatives. In essence it was a continuation of the talks Prime Minister Drnovsek held with President Putin and Prime Minister Kasyanov just over a week ago.
Question on bilateral relations?
We spoke of bilateral relations only very briefly. Moscow also estimates these relations as being at a very high level, we are now making up for an inconceivably long pause from 1991 until almost last year. Economic cooperation is intensifying and, what is very important, cooperation at other levels is also developing well, particularly in the field of culture, which we both found very important.
Question on President Putin's position as to the Iraqi crisis?
President Putin stated the already publicly known Russian position, which supports the authorisation of any action by the United Nations and making sure that Iraq respects the resolutions adopted to date. Resolutions cannot be adopted for resolutions' sake, they must be respected, thus restoring faith in the UN and its credibility if we later want to take recourse to those resolutions.
Question on the potential agreement between the Russian Federation and the US on Chechnya and Iraq?
We spoke of Iraq and Chechnya, but I have no arguments to support there being any sort of barter deal behind this.
Did you also speak of Georgia?
Concerning Georgia President Putin discussed it in conjunction with the resolution of the Chechen crisis, stating that they are investing great efforts in finding a political solution to the Chechen crisis as soon as possible. He also believes that possibilities for this lie primarily in the establishment of local government followed by a new constitutional arrangement and democratic elections of a new government that would be an authority which would assume responsibility for the situation in that republic.
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