Elders' views on international affairs in high demand - Putin
NOVO-OGARYOVO. April 29 (Interfax) - The Elders' opinion is very much in demand in the present-day world, and Russian leaders would like to hear it as well, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"Your active position in international affairs is in absolute demand, given the difficult situation that we are seeing and are witnesses of," Putin said while receiving at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence the members of the informal group of veterans of the international political establishment.
"Regrettably, after you stopped being actively involved in politics, the international situation has not got simpler," Putin said. "I do not want to say there is your responsibility in this," Putin joked.
The president stressed that it was useful for him to hear their opinion on key international issues. "Both for me, and Minister Lavrov, and my aide Ushakov," the president added.
The world continues to remain "complicated, there are many conflicts in it," he said.
The Russian president thanked The Elders for coming to Moscow, stressing that for them this "is not the first place where they are meeting with incumbent state leaders."
It was reported that the Elders delegation that has arrived in Moscow includes Kofi Annan, the former Presidents Jimmy Carter of the United States and Martti Ahtisaari of Finland, as well as a number of other former high-ranking statesmen, former leaders of countries and international organizations.
In particular, the delegation also included Norway's former prime minister and World Health Organization's ex-director general Gro Harlem Brundtland, as well as United Nations Syria envoy (2012-2014) Lakhdar Brahimi.
The Elders was set up in 2007 by former South Africa president Nelson Mandela. This is the group's first visit Russia.
