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At the talks President Vladimir Putin said that Russia would make good on its commitments to the counter-terrorist coalition and allow Germany to transport its military-purpose cargo across Russian territory to perform its peace-keeping mission in Afghanistan.

The two leaders’ talks were focused on Iraq. Mr Putin told his German counterpart about the efforts Russia was taking to find ways out of the crisis. He said Russia’s special envoy Yevgeny Primakov had met with top officials in Baghdad, while Alexander Voloshin, chief of staff of the Presidential Executive Office would soon return from Washington. The Iraq situation was also to be discussed during the Russian Foreign Minister’s talks in Beijing.

At the joint press conference the two leaders held in conclusion of their talks, Mr Putin said he did not want the UN Security Council to pass a go ahead resolution for a military operation in Iraq.

Both Mr Putin and Mr Schroeder confirmed their countries’ unchanged stances on the issue. The two leaders insisted on the further search for a diplomatic solution to the crisis and on assuring Iraq’s adherence to its own commitments to the UN. They said it was important that the international community use all the diplomatic means available.

President Putin said UN Resolution 1441 had not exhausted its potential and was to be implemented to the fullest extent, as was spelled out in the proposal circulated by Russia, France and Germany in New York on February 24, 2003, which basically involved more intensive and systematic inspections.

He emphasised that in this situation, much would depend on how responsible Iraq was.