Putin arrives in Germany for talks with Schroeder

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in the northern German city of Hamburg Monday for informal meetings with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

The two leaders will witness signings of a series of major bilateral agreements on education, space exploration, youth exchange and economic cooperation while exchanging views on the political crisis in Ukraine, local media reported.

Schroeder, as a good friend of Putin, would help bring forward the relations between the European Union and Russia affected due to the disagreement on the re-run of the Ukrainian presidential election.

Putin's two-day visit had been scheduled for an earlier date but was postponed in September due to a mass hostage taking at Beslan school in southern Russia which cost some 344 lives.

Source: Xinhua