Top military leaders from the United States and Russia met on October 21 near Helsinki for their first time since this summer's war between Russia and Georgia. The agenda was reported to have included talks on the situation in Georgia, an ally of the United States that in August fought a short war with Russia. The meeting was attended by the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, and General Nikolai Makarov, head of Russia's general staff.

Details of the discussions were not released, but it was reported to be the first direct meeting between these two defence chiefs. Finnish Defence Chief Admiral Juhani Kaskeala hosted a luncheon for his counterparts, a spokeswoman for the Finnish Defence Command told Deutsche Presse- Agentur (dpa). Kaskeala provided no further details. A spokesman for the Russian military attache's office referred queries to the defence ministry in Moscow. Finland shares a long border with Russia and is not a NATO member.

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