"We stressed the unique role of the United Nations as a means for resolving problems in international affairs, (and) unanimously stressed that we cannot achieve this goal without cooperation in the Euro-Atlantic zone," Putin told reporters after the one-hour trilateral summit.

The talks in Russia's second city of Saint Petersburg with with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac focused on promoting a central role for the United Nations in postwar Iraq.

Putin stressed that the positions of the anti-war trio "have not changed" on Iraq.

"The main thing now is to restore civilian life and to resolve humanitarian problems. We believe all these issues should be resolved under the aegis of the United Nations," he said.

The three leaders, who formed an opposition bloc within the UN Security Council that refused to back the US-led campaign to disarm Iraq by force until peaceful means had been exhausted, are now insisting that UN involvement in the postwar humanitarian effort is essential to lend legitimacy to the process.

Putin added that the three leaders had been "unanimous that the situation in Iraq should not hinder efforts by the international community to resolve other problems such as the Middle East conflict."

The talks had touched on the Israel-Palestinian conflict and on the stand-off over North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, he said.

The Russian leader rejected the notion that the Saint Petersburg summit represented a "split in the international community", saying it was part of "the search for international security in the 21st century."

Other leaders had been invited to the meeting, he noted, a reference to a reported invitation issued to British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

However, "it was organised at such short notice that ... they couldn't accept the invitation," he noted.

SPACE.WIRE