Mr Putin received messages of congratulations from U.S. President Bill Clinton, French President Jacques Chirac, Indian President Kocheril Narayanan, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Chairman of the State Defence Committee of North Korea Kim Jong Il, President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of Armenia Robert Kocharian, President of Azerbaijan Geidar Aliev, President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov and President of Turkmenistan Saparmurat Niyazov.
“I fully share your desire to ensure the constructive continuation of Russian-U.S. relations and to develop their positive potential”, Mr Putin wrote in a response to the U.S. President.
“I hope that we will reach decisions during my upcoming visit to Paris that will make it possible to take Russian-French relations to a new level”, Mr Putin said in a telegram to the French President.
In a letter to the President of India, Mr Putin noted that, “Russia is firmly committed to making the strategic partnership that we declared in Delhi a genuine constructive force for building a fair and balanced system of international relations”.