King Of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf To Visit Russia On October 8-12

King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf is to arrive on a state visit in Russia on Monday, October 8. Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria and a large delegation of Swedish businessmen will accompany the King, Swedish Ambassador in Moscow Swen Hirdman told RIA Novosti. State visits between Russia and Sweden are rather occasional, the Ambassador noted. He recalled that Carl XVI Gustaf had been on a state visit in Moscow for the last time 23 years ago, in June 1978. The then Russian President Boris Yeltsin came on a state visit in Sweden in December 1997. Russian President Vladimir Putin was in Sweden on a working visit in March 2001. So, "this is only the forth state visit between Russia and Sweden for the last 100 years," the Swedish Ambassador stressed. According to Hirdman, the distinguished guests will be in Moscow on October 8-9. The official meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila, Moscow sightseeing with Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, a ceremonial banquet in the Kremlin are scheduled for the Royal family in the Russian capital. On Tuesday morning they are to visit the Academy of Sciences and to meet its President Yuri Osipov, to visit RAO UES of Russia, social establishments, to hold a return reception in the Embassy of Sweden with about 100 Russian representatives invited including Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. In the evening "The Swan Lake" will be on at Bolshoi Theatre by the request of the Swedish side. The King of Sweden, his wife and daughter will attend the performance. In the evening the King of Sweden and his escort will fly to St. Petersburg. They are to meet Governor of the northern capital Vladimir Yakovlev. According to the Ambassador, the King will participate in a seminar on information technologies organized by the Embassy, will visit the institute where Nobel Prize winner Academician Zhores Alferov works. In the evening the guests are to visit the Hermitage. Besides, they are expected to attend the Catherine Palace in Pushkin. Carl XVI Gustaf, Silvia and Victoria will visit Archangel and Solovlki islands Thursday. The King and his wife will spend Friday in Murmansk and on the Kola Peninsula. "So this visit has a very heavy programme," the Swedish Ambassador stressed.