Mr Putin sent reply messages to:
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India, President Jiang Zemin of the People’s Republic of China, Emperor Akihito of Japan, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori of Japan, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien of Canada, Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson of Canada, Prime Minister Giuliano Amato of the Italian Republic, President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi of the Italian Republic, President Jacques Chirac of the French Republic, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of the Federal Republic of Germany, President William Jefferson Clinton of the United States of America, President Islam Karimov of the Republic of Uzbekistan and President Emomali Rakhmonov of the Republic of Tajikistan.