President Clinton spoke by phone July 10 with Russian President Vladimir Putin, White House national security spokesman P.J. Crowley told the Washington File, a daily news service published by the Office of International Information Programs.

Putin initiated the 15-minute call, Crowley said July 10.

Primarily, the discussion was in planning for the annual Group of Eight (G-8) Summit of the world's seven leading industrialized nations and Russia that takes place this year in Okinawa, Japan later this month, Crowley said.

The two leaders "talked about the fact that they would talk about non-proliferation issues, as they did in Moscow," when they get together during the summit, Crowley said. "You can assume they will talk about national missile defense, they will talk about economics."

President Putin said that before arriving at the summit he will visit China and North Korea, and Clinton said he was going to be working on the Middle East, "but they will obviously compare notes on their respective efforts when they get together," Crowley said.

"So it was kind of a preparatory call for the G-8, that's how I would summarize," Crowley said.

The annual G-8 summit takes place this year in Okinawa from July 21-23.

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