The conversation was held as part of consultations between President Putin and the heads of the leading members of NATO on various aspects of the preparations for a Russia-NATO summit. As agreed, the summit was to take place on May 28 in Rome.
As they discussed these questions during their telephone conversation, Mr Putin and Mr Chirac stressed the principled significance of a mechanism of the “twenty” as an assurance placing Russia-NATO relations on a truly equal basis.
Mr Putin and Mr Chirac also paid considerable attention to Russia-EU relations in light of a regular summit being prepared for the end of May.