Russian President's wife meets with Queen Silvia

Russian President's wife Lyudmila Putin has arrived at the official residence of King Karl XVI and Queen Silvia of Sweden. The royal palace is to host a meeting between Lyudmila Putin and Queen Silvia.

The Russian first lady and the queen will meet with participants in the Baltic Star International Youth Forum who came to Stockholm on Thursday morning.

The welcome ceremony of the Russian President's wife took place at the royal palace. Lyudmila Putin was greeted by the first marshal and the first lady of the royal palace. After that, the spouse of the Russian President met with the queen.

Lyudmila Putin is visiting Sweden as part of the Baltic Star youth forum. This international meeting is held under the aegis of the Moscow Centre of the Russian Language Development with Lyudmila Putin being its patroness. The forum unites more than 160 senior pupils from Russia and 10 Baltic states. They are winners of national contests on the best knowledge of the Russian language and Russia's history.

The forum's activities take place on board the ferry-boat taking the participants over the Baltic Star route.

Schoolchildren go on tours over the cities they visit. In addition to St. Petersburg, they visited Helsinki and met with Finnish President Tarja Halonen. After Stockholm they will head for Lubeck (Germany). The forum will close in Kaliningrad (Russia).