President Putin: Large Portion of German Public Sees Russia as Serious Partner

A large sector of the German public consider Russia a serious partner irrespective of the internal political situation. This was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin today during a meeting with Prime Minister of Bavaria and representative of the Christian-Socialist Union Edmund Stoiber.

As announced by the press-service of the President of the Russian Federation, the themes of the discussions were international problems and questions of bilateral cooperation between Russia and Germany. Putin said that over the last year, the commodity turnover between the two countries has increased by 37%, which is a 'significant increase'. The prime minister of Bavaria in his turn said that cooperation between Russia and Germany is going very well despite all the changes in the international arena.

Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov was also present at the meeting. Putin said that the presence of the Moscow Mayor at the meeting was no accident. 'Contacts between Bavaria and Moscow have been developing intensively for quite a long time', he said.