Russian President To Pay One-day Working Visit To France Today

Today Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a one-day working visit to France on the invitation of Jacques Chirac. Upon arrival in the airport, Vladimir Putin will head for Palais d'Elysee to meet the President of France and his assistants, the Kremlin administration told RIA Novosti. Then the two presidents will have a working dinner. After that, they will answer journalists' questions and Vladimir Putin will leave for Warsaw. The talks between the two leaders will focus on international issues. Putin and Chirac are to discuss cooperation between Russia and the European Union, the European security, the situation in European and Asian conflict zones and Russian-French economic cooperation. Vladimir Putin is expected to discuss with Jacques Chirac the so-called Natalia Zakharova's case, the Kremlin sources told RIA Novosti. Zakharova is an actress of the Moscow Arts Academic Theatre (MKhAT). In accordance with a decision of the French court, the seven-year old daughter of Zakharova and her ex-husband, a citizen of France, has been taken to an asylum under the care of the children's service of social aid. This step should have protected the girl from the conflict in the family. The court gave this reason for its decision. This summer Natalia Zakharova was allowed to meet her daughter for the first time within 1.5 years but she failed to take the girl back home. Natalia Zakharova wrote letters to Vladimir Putin and Jacques Chirac asking to help her get her daughter back.