Русия: Русия: Владимир Путин посреща Меркел и настоява за край на санкциите

The Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his gratitude to Angela Merkel for coming to Moscow on Sunday for a ceremony of laying wreaths at the Tomb of Unknown Soldier. Putin noted that it is a sign of the long path that Berlin and Moscow have taken to secure mutual understanding and coopetation. Speaking at the joint press conference with his German counterpart, the Russian president underlined that despite tense relations with Germany, the joint cooperation in business, socio-economic and cultural spheres are still developing. Addressing the subject of sanctions and trade barriers, Putin encouraged Merkel to remove the "artificial barriers to the development of mutually beneficial trade and economic ties." Putin further reminded Merkel that Moscow and Berlin managed to cooperate in much more difficult times in the past, in conditions in which different ideologies and political systems were in conflict. Before joint press conference at the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin alongside Angela Merkel laid wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The German Chancellor was not present at Saturday's celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the Soviet victory in World War II, but came for an official visit to Moscow the day after to commemorate WWII soldiers and victims.