http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1504&ncid=1504&e=4&u=/afp/20050318/ts_afp/francerussiagermany_050318205107PARIS (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) was given a friendly reception by the leaders of France, Germany and Spain when they met for informal talks aimed at bolstering recently strained ties between Moscow and the European Union.
French President Jacques Chirac invited German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (news - web sites) and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to his Elysee palace for the first-ever such meeting, after holding bilateral talks with Putin.
At a press conference after the 90-minute four-way session, the leaders said it had been a useful preparation for an EU-Russian summit due in May.
"France, Germany, Spain and Russia see in this relationship a way of ensuring ... the definitive establishment of peace, democracy and the rule of law across the whole of our continent," Chirac said.
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