SLOVENIA - EVERYTHING READY FOR BUSH-PUTIN MEETING

LJUBLJANA, June 15 (Hina) - Less than 24 hours before U.S. President George Bush and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are scheduled to land at Ljubljana's Brnik airport, everything with regard to security and a programme covering the meeting in Brdo kod Kranja is ready for Slovenia to prove itself an excellent host, official Slovene sources said on Friday. "We have no indications at present that something in the programme might be changed. While preparing (for the meeting), the Slovene police had excellent cooperation with American and Russian services," Interior Minister Rado Bohinc told Slovene Radio. He also chairs a committee which organised this, to date biggest security operation, which engages all members of Slovenia's police and security services. No major demonstrations should be expected in Slovenia during the Bush-Putin meeting. Bohinc explained strict security measures at locations where the two officials would talk and along Slovene borders were necessary in view of meeting all security standards required by such an important event. "This is a meeting whose security dimension is big at a time when throughout the world we encounter anti-globalisation vandalism which often borders on the criminal," the interior minister said explaining the recent strict inspection of people and vehicles at borders. The number of U.S., Russian, and Slovene police experts working on the summit's security is unknown. "We cannot disclose that for professional reasons. There will be as many as the standards of the profession require," Bohinc said. He believes that due to the excellent location of the meeting, the number of police experts will be less than the 3,000 which two years ago secured former U.S. President Bill Clinton's visit to the Slovene capital. Bush and Putin will hold talks 30km from Ljubljana. Access to Brdo kod Kranja will be granted only to people with security accreditation. Most members of the press will arrive there by special transport for a news conference at 17.00 hours. (hina) ha