Rusland pleit voor een hervorming van de OVSE (en)

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on 30-31 August in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi, where Mr Putin is now on vacation.

The three leaders will discuss "crucial international issues," the Russian presidential press secretary Alexei Gromov announced on Tuesday (24 August), according to Interfax.

Russia, France and Germany opposed the US-led war against Iraq. When the three met at a summit in April last year in St. Petersburg, the three leaders called for a central role for the United Nations in the post-war reconstruction of Iraq.

Mr Putin has lately indicated that Russia is now prepared to help train Iraqi civilian personnel and wants to begin discussing specific proposals with the Iraqi leadership.

"We know how far from simple everything is in Iraq", Mr Putin said. "But sooner or later, all wars end in peace and the need arises to build a peaceful life", Moscow News reported him as saying.

Putin to push for OSCE reforms

President Putin is also expected to push for reforms of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) at the trilateral summit .

The 55-nation group spends too much money on field missions to promote human rights and democratic institutions in certain countries, while overlooking others, the Russians claim.

The OSCE was part of observing missions that said Russia's parliamentary elections last December as well as the presidential campaign that led to Mr Putin's March re-election, fell short of democratic standards.

The OSCE is also set to monitor the American presidential elections in November.