Agenda of Russian-British summit in Moscow

The forthcoming talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is to pay a routine visit to Moscow in October, will focus on the situation around Iraq, Russian Ambassador to Great Britain Grigory Karasin told Russian journalists in London.

According to him, the Moscow summit will be held in the same format, as the meeting between the two leaders at Chequers (the country residence of the British Prime Minister) on December 21st-22nd, 2001.

The Russian diplomat believes that the "difficult situation around Iraq" will be one of the key issues of the discussion.

According to London observers, the two leaders will consider the problem in the broad sense and will discuss what regulations and laws the world community should observe and how it should regard the new concept of "preventive strikes".

In addition, the Russian-British summit will focus on the situation in the Middle East, diplomatic sources in London said. They will also discuss NATO and European issues, including the contents of Russia-NATO cooperation in the format of 20 and the problem of the Kaliningrad region (Russia's enclave on the Baltic Sea), the sources added.

According to the diplomatic sources, the summit's agenda will also include several bilateral issues, including cooperation between the Russian and British foreign and defence ministries, economic ministries and special services.