(20 Jun 2006)
1. Putin enters and greets Prodi
2. Media
3. Putin greets Italian officials
4. Talks
5. Putin
6. Prodi
7. Talks
8. Putin and Prodi walk into press briefing
9. Cutaway translator
10. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Romano Prodi, Italian prime minister
"We've had a thorough exchange regarding these issues (about Iran) and it has been important to establish exactly what kind of reciprocal information we share so that we can be coordinated in solving the problems about Iran."
11. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vladimir Putin, Russian president
"It was extremely important for me to hear the opinion of the Italian prime minister about access for Russian companies to the Italian market in
exchange for Italian companies accessing oil and gas projects in Russia."
11. Prodi and Putin
12. Kremlin
STORYLINE:
Italian Premier Romano Prodi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday tried to gloss over Moscow's thorny ties with the European Union
as they hailed bilateral economic and political ties.
Prodi said he and the president had discussed strategic cooperation on issues such as the Iran nuclear crisis.
In turn, Putin spoke about energy security - a prominent issue for Russia's relations with the European Union.
A New Year's dispute between Russia and Ukraine resulted in natural gas supplies being disrupted to several European countries and the incident
rattled European policy makers, who accused Russia of using its substantial oil and gas resources as a political weapon.
Russia, which supplies a quarter of Europe's gas and is its second-biggest supplier of oil, has sought in recent months to use its considerable energy clout and penetrate internal gas markets in several European countries.
Prodi's visit was the latest stop on a tour that included Brussels, Vienna, Paris and Berlin.
The leaders last met in 2004, when Prodi was head of the European Commission and Putin was one of the first world leaders to call Prodi in the days after his April election.
Putin had a particularly close relationship with Prodi's predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi, who was considered one of the Russian leader's closest
European allies.
Last year, Berlusconi called Putin a truly democratic leader who should be supported - praise that contrasted with US and European concerns about what some officials describe as the Kremlin's backtracking on democracy.
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