President Vladimir Putin will not attend the Council of Europe summit, starting in Warsaw on Monday. Russia will be represented at the meeting by its foreign minister.
The official reason quoted by the Russian side for president Putin’s absence is that such a visit had not been earlier included in his schedule.
However, Moscow sources have confirmed the cause to be Russia’s tense relations with the Council of Europe, mainly because of the latter’s criticism of the war in Chechnya.
Another reason mentioned has been president Putin’s anticipation of an anti-Russian campaign in the Polish media.
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