Russian president's spouse meets Finnish president

Tuesday saw a meeting between spouse of the Russian President Ludmila Putin and Finnish President Tarja Halonen in Helsinki.

The husband of the Head of Finnish State was also present at the meeting held at the Presidential Palace.

Ludmila Putin has arrived in Helsinki within the framework of the International Baltic Star youth forum. It is held under the aegis of the Moscow Centre for the Russian language development patronised by the Russian President's spouse.

During the forum, opened last week in St. Petersburg, schoolchildren from Russia and other 10 Baltic states are participating in contests, perform creative tasks, hold joint discussions in international groups.

In the course of the meeting at the Presidential Palace Ludmila Putin thanked Tarja Halonen for the warm reception given to the forum participants. The Russian President's wife also briefed on the forum programme in general and in Helsinki in particular.

After their visit to the Finnish capital the schoolchildren will head for Stockholm and then for Luebeck /Germany/. The forum is due to finish in the Russian city of Kaliningrad.