King Of Sweden With His Wife And Daughter Arrive In Moscow On A State Visit On Monday

King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustav is arriving in Russia on Monday for a six-day visit. As Ambassador of Sweden in Moscow Sven Hirdman said in an interview with RIA Novosti, queen Silvia and crown princess Victoria, as well as a large delegation of Swedish businessmen will accompany the King. Carl XVI Gustav with his wife queen Silvia and their daughter crown princess Victoria will come to Moscow aboard different aircraft, though almost at the same time. According to the Ambassador, this is linked with the fact that, by the Swedish rules, the king and the heir mustn't fly by the same airplane - it cannot be allowed that at once two representatives of the monarchy - the ruling monarch and the heir - perish in the event of a tragedy. At the Vnukovo-2 airport, the high-profile guests will be welcomed by Prime-Minister of Russia Mikhail Kasyanov. After that, they will meet president of Russia Vladimir Putin at the St. George Hall of the Kremlin. The Ambassador noted that in Sweden, the king does not deal with political questions. For this reason, as he said, during the conversation, which will last about 45 minutes, the sides are most likely to exchange opinions of the visit, of the sights which the royal family will visit, and of the environment protection. State visits between Russia and Sweden are rare enough. Carl XVI Gustav paid a state visit to Russia 23 years ago, in June 1978. First Russian president Boris Yeltsin paid a state visit to Sweden in December 1997. The previous summit-level visit took place in 1909 when Russian emperor Nicholas II travelled to Sweden. "This means that over the past century, it will be only the fourth state visit between our countries," the head of the Swedish diplomatic mission stressed. As spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia Alexander Yakovenko stated, Sweden is a leading European partner of Russia. According to him, Russian-Swedish relations are "of a friendly, goodneighbourly nature." The Swedish leadership comes out in support of the democratic and market reforms in Russia and views the development of relations with Russia as a priority task.