Russian Foreign Minister tells German lawmakers about Chechnya

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov has briefed German lawmakers on the situation in Chechnya.

The Russian Foreign Ministry information and press department announced that Ivanov at a meeting with the speaker of Germany's Bundestag lower house of parliament, Wolfgang Thierse, also spoke of the role the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and other international organizations can play in reinforcing democratic processes in the Chechen Republic.

Thierse expressed his condolences in connection with the Monday terrorist act in Znamenskoye, Chechnya, which has entailed a heavy loss of life.

During the course of their conversation, Ivanov and Thierse pointed out coincidence or closeness of the two countries' approaches to most fundamental issues of global development, noting the constructive diplomatic cooperation between Russia and Germany, including in the United Nations framework.

The two delegations discussed Moscow's and Berlin's approaches to Iraqi settlement, including solutions to the Iraqi population's humanitarian problems and developing common approaches of the international community to Iraq's future development. Foreign Ministry officials indicated that Ivanov and Thierse noted the importance of strengthening regional stability in the Middle East and of promoting the "road map" proposed by international Israel-Palestine peace mediators to that end.