Vladimir Putin to meet Prime Minister of Bavaria

Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber will arrive in Moscow on a two-day visit on an invitation from Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov.

Stoiber is a candidate for the post of the German Chancellor of the opposition bloc (the Christian-Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union) in the forthcoming parliamentary election in September 2002. Stoiber comes out for Russia's political, economic and cultural integration into the European community.

According to the data of the German Embassy to Moscow and the Kremlin administration, Russian President Vladimir Putin will receive the Bavarian Prime Minister on Wednesday. Stoiber is also scheduled to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov.