Putin, Berlusconi, Prodi joint presser, plus family photo from summit

(6 Nov 2003)

1. Wide shot gardens of Villa Madama
2. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Italian President Silvio Berlusconi, EU Commission President Romano Prodi and EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana walking
3. Media taking photographs
4. Various Prodi, Putin, Berlusconi and Solana standing for photo op
5. Various Putin, Prodi and Berlusconi walking
6. Wide shot interior of Villa Madama
7. Putin and Berlusconi sit down
8. UPSOUND: (English) Journalist from French newspaper Le Monde asking question:
"So Mr President, don't you think that the European Union and Russia have quite conflicting views about the respect of rule of law."
9. UPSOUND: (Russian) Vladimir Putin, Russian President:
"No." (then interrupted by Berlusconi)
10. UPSOUND: (Italian) Silvio Berlusconi, Italian President:
"Excuse me, but I would like to add my opinion to the one that President Putin will share."
11. SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Silvio Berlusconi, Italian President:
"I know President Putin well enough to guarantee that he understands the concept of the division and separation between the power of the executive and the judiciary. So it's worrying to notice that this theory of intervention (ie., that Putin has taken the law into his own hands), which is contrary to the law and contrary to the concept of free market, is constantly repeated in the international press, despite all the explanations that were provided by the Russian government and the Russian presidency."
12. UPSOUND: (Russian) Vladimir Putin, Russian President:
(Makes joke) "I am ready to pay and he (Berlusconi) is worth his money" (in response to Berlusconi saying he should charge Putin for his counsel), I must say that the first time we have such a good lawyer."
13. Prodi, Putin, Berlusconi, Solana at news conference
14. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Vladimir Putin, Russian President:
"These people they made billions of dollars, I would like to stress billions. By the way in no western country can you earn this sort of money in such a short time. But suppose they have made this money legally, but having made these billions, they obviously are going to spend millions or even hundreds of millions to save these billions."
15. Prodi, Putin, Berlusconi, Solana at news conference
16. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Vladimir Putin, Russian President:
"There are many human rights problems in the world and let us not pick on a particular region, we are responsible for it (meaning Chechnya) and we know it. And as you can see we are working on it, both as far as the situation and our approach is concerned. And we do take into account comments made by our colleagues."
17. Prodi, Putin, Berlusconi, Solana at news conference
18. SOUNDBITE: (English) Javier Solana, EU Foreign Policy Chief:
"I think that it has been a very, very constructive meeting with a very good atmosphere that proves that the work that has been done in the past year gives some benefits. We are talking among friends, among partners that have a lot of things in common, we don't agree one hundred per cent on all the topics, but we every time agree on more issues and that is something that I think is very, very good."
19. Presser ends

STORYLINE:

Russian President Vladimir Putin reassured European Union officials during a summit Thursday that Moscow wouldn't discriminate against
oil giant Yukos in its fraud and tax-evasion case, EU Commission President Romano Prodi said.

"We have been reassured that the law will not be applied in a discriminatory manner. We wanted this assurance because this is key for





in Chechnya and the Yukos case.


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