MOSCOW, March 31 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev will pay a one-day visit to Germany on Tuesday
to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of thiw week's G20
summit in London, a Kremlin source said.
The two leaders are expected to discuss Russian-EU
relations, which have been disturbed by the fall of the
government of the Czech Republic, which holds the European
Union's rotating presidency, ahead of a biannual summit.
"A regular Russia-EU summit is scheduled for May," the
source said. "The exchange of views with Germany as one of the
engines of European integration becomes increasingly important
in connection with the latest political turmoil in Czech
Republic, which holds the EU presidency."
Russia earlier expressed hopes that the current political
situation in the Czech Republic, where the government resigned
after losing a vote of no confidence, will not affect the
planned Russia-EU summit.
Medvedev and Merkel are also expected to address the idea
of a new European security treaty to be drawn up at a
pan-European conference, proposed by the Russian president last
June.
The two leaders may also discuss the agreement on
modernizing Ukraine's Soviet-era gas pipeline network signed by
Ukraine and the EU last week. The document triggered an angry
reaction from Russia, which exports most of its Europe-bound
gas via Ukraine.
Economic and trade cooperation will also be on the agenda
of the meeting.
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