VLADIMIR PUTIN FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE NICHTISLAMI CULTURAL
MONUMENTS BY THE TALIBAN








MOSCOW, 12 March.  (RIA "Nowosti" rIA-"Nowosti"-Korrespondent Oleg
Ossipow).  The destruction of the not-Islamic cultural monuments by
the Taliban on the territory of Afghanistan is regret worth.  This
avowed today Vladimir Putin on a press conference after the
Russian-Iranian negotiations in Moscow, announces the RIA "Nowosti"
rIA-"Nowosti"-Korrespondent.

It touched in the discussion with the Iranian president Mohammad
Khatami the situation in the Middle East.  Vladimir Putin called the
problems existing there " complicated ".  Here he expressed the
zuversicht that these problems are solvable only in consideration of
the interests of all peoples living in this region.