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German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac plan to fly to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad on July 3 to participate in anniversary celebrations there, a German government spokesman said in Berlin Friday.
Bela Anda said they would hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to continue consultations within the group that protested against the US invasion of Iraq.
The spokesman noted it was regrettable that leaders of neighboring Lithuania and Poland had not been invited to the 750th anniversary of Kaliningrad City's founding. The City, founded with the name Koenigsberg by Germans in 1255, became part of Russia after World War II.
Russia and Lithuania have disputed recently over transit rules for Russians traveling to and from Kaliningrad, which is located on the Baltic coast wedged between Poland and Lithuania.
Anda said Schroeder would visit the grave of German philosopher Immanuel Kant in the city, where many traces of its German past remain.
The discussion of international issues by the three leaders would be a continuation of summits that began last year in the Black Sea resort of Sochi and continued this year in Paris with a meeting, which was also attended by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Anda said.
(Xinhua News Agency June 25, 2005)
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