President Putin on 10 March held telephone consultations with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder regarding the developing situation at the United Nations, the proposed new Security Council resolution on Iraq, and the most recent reports by chief international weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohammad el-Baradei. The two leaders agreed that those reports \"provide no basis for discontinuing the inspections.\" Later in the day, Putin discussed these matters with French President Jacques Chirac, who also agreed with this conclusion. The two presidents agreed that a majority of the Security Council would vote against the amended draft resolution. Putin was informed that if the resolution comes to a vote in the Security Council, both Chirac and Schroeder will likely attend the session personally. (RFE/RL)