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Opening the talks, President Putin said that the situation around the Russian airliner disaster in the skies over Bodensee was the only problem complicating the development of Russian-Swiss contact.

He pointed to progress in solving it and expressed the hope that settlement proceedings would be the same as during any tragedy that should happen to an aircraft of any other airline in the world.

In July 2002, in the responsibility area of the Swiss air navigation service Skyguide, a Tu-154 of Bashkir Airline and a cargo Boeing-757 collided in mid-air, killing 69 passengers on the Russian plane, including 52 children.

Speaking about bilateral relations in general, President Putin pointed to good development prospects for inter-state ties not only in the economy, but also in culture. He thought that the visit by Mr Couchepin will give an added impetus to multi-faceted Russian-Swiss cooperation.