According to the White House and the Kremlin it was the first publicly disclosed conversation the two leaders had since Putin protegee Dmitry Medvedev became Russia's president-elect in a landslide election on 2nd March-- and both sides were stingy with details.

"The heads of state examined questions on the international agenda, particularly in light of preparations for the Russia-NATO Council meeting," a Kremlin statement said on Friday.

The White House did not mention the exchange until questioned, and national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe

would only say that "they had a good conversation ahead of the NATO summit."

Putin is planning to attend the meeting in Bucharest on April 2-4, which will take place on the sidelines of a full NATO members summit. Bush will attend the alliance gathering.

Tensions are high between Moscow and its Western partners over NATO's expansion drive, US plans to install anti-missile defences in central Europe and Russia's suspension of a key Cold War-era arms pact.

Source: DDNEWS