Moscow, Oct 28: President Vladimir Putin has cancelled his visit to Denmark following Copenhagen's decision to allow an international conference on Chechnya to be held in the Danish capital, the foreign ministry said on Monday. "The conference is organised and financed by Chechen terrorists, accomplices and patrons from al-Qaeda who, as is now absolutely clear, were behind the awful terrorist act in Moscow," the ministry said in a statement.

"In the circumstances, the planned visit of the Russian president to Denmark cannot go ahead," it said.

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The decision follows an announcement from Denmark, the current EU president, that an EU-Russia summit to be held on November 11-12 would take place in Brussels.

Putin was due to have a separate talks with Danish leaders during his visit.

Russia on Monday held a day of national mourning to honour the memory of the 117 hostages who died in the three-day ordeal when Chechen rebels stormed into a Moscow theater and took more than 800 people hostage.

Of the 117 hostages who died, 115 succumbed to the effects of a gas pumped into the theatre by special forces ahead of an assault during which 50 Chechen hostage-takers also died. Bureau Report