President Vladimir Putin hosted talks in Moscow on 15 April with Uzbek President Islam Karimov, during which they discussed efforts to combat terrorism in the context of the violence in Uzbekistan late last month, RTR and ORT reported. Karimov told Putin that terrorist groups are regrouping faster than the international antiterrorism coalition can react, finding weak points in the coalition\'s defenses and striking there. Putin told Karimov that \"in your struggle against these acts, you can count on Russia\'s full and unconditional support.\" The two presidents also discussed bilateral economic relations. Aleksei Malashenko of the Moscow Carnegie Center told \"Izvestiya\" of 15 April that Karimov\'s visit to Moscow came following a recent cooling in relations between the United States and Uzbekistan as a result of Washington\'s criticism of human-rights abuses in the republic. Malashenko noted that Moscow, meanwhile, has always stressed that such issues are \"President Karimov\'s personal business.\" Therefore, the Uzbek president has begun to exhibit his readiness to cooperate more actively with Russia, \"Izvestiya\" commented, citing Karimov\'s statement that his country is prepared to take \"decisive steps to take advantage of unexploited political and economic opportunities.\" (RFE/RL)