Putin Meeting With Czech Leaders In Prague

Presidents Vladimir Putin and Vaclav Klaus at Prague Castle on March 1 (epa)
March 2, 2006 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin continues a visit to the Czech Republic today, laying a wreath at a World War II memorial in Prague.

The Russian leader will also meet with Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek and Czech lawmakers.

Yesterday, Putin said Russia bears moral responsibility for the Soviet-led crackdown of the Prague Spring in 1968, but no legal responsibility for it.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus said it was time to look to the future and not back on the past.

"I don't see any reason why I today, on March 1, 2006, should try to settle with President Putin what Brezhnev's Soviet Union did in August 1968," Klaus said. "We both know about it and understand it. It was an exceptionally tragic moment for us, but I am for a positive outlook on the present and the future."

Putin made a similar statement in Budapest on February 28 about the Soviet crackdown of the 1956 Hungarian revolution.

(Czech TV, AFP)

Putin Meeting With Czech Leaders In Prague

Presidents Vladimir Putin and Vaclav Klaus at Prague Castle on March 1 (epa)March 2, 2006 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin continues a visit to the Czech Republic today, laying a wreath at a World War II memorial in Prague.

Presidents Vladimir Putin and Vaclav Klaus at Prague Castle on March 1 (epa)
March 2, 2006 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin continues a visit to the Czech Republic today, laying a wreath at a World War II memorial in Prague.