"It is good that the Saddam Hussein regime has fallen. We said for a long time he had to be brought down. We did not defend him, we said it should not be done by force," the Russian leader said after talks with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Putin and Schroeder were holding bilateral talks prior to a three-nation summit with French President Jacques Chirac, at which the three leaders -- all opponents of the US-led war in Iraq -- were to discuss the situation there.

SPACE.WIRE