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(14 Nov 1999) Natural Sound

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Boris Yeltsin met at the president's country residence near Moscow on Sunday to discuss preparations for next week's summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (O-S-C-E) in Turkey.

The O-S-C-E summit is expected to give Western leaders a chance to directly discuss Russia's handling of the Chechnya conflict.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Yakushkin said that Yeltsin and Putin's discussions centered on key issues in the preparation for the talks which will take place in Istanbul, on November 18th and 19th.

Prime Minister Putin is expected to come up against harsh questioning from Western leaders, including U-S President Bill Clinton, over the Chechen campaign, which has turned more than 200-thousand people into refugees and claimed many civilian lives.

The Chechen parliament on Sunday appealed to the O-S-C-E to help bring an end to the fighting in the breakaway republic.

The Kremlin spokesman declined to confirm whether the topic of Chechnya was discussed at Sunday's hour-long meeting at Yeltsin's country estate.

The spokesman said the meeting was a "thorough run-through" of issues and that the president and prime minister touched on a number of themes relating to Russia's relations with the Commonwealth of Independent States.

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