Merkel to visit Russia for Putin talks amid hints of warmer ties

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in her first visit to the country since 2015, signaling renewed dialog between the two states amid strained Moscow-European Union relations.

The two leaders will meet in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday, with their talks expected to focus on the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the crisis in Syria.

The meeting comes after Putin called for the two countries “to fully normalize” ties when he met with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel in March.

German and Russian leaders have scaled back contacts while Moscow’s ties with the European Union have deteriorated to a post-Cold War low mainly over the Ukraine conflict.

Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking eastern regions have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Russia forces and the Ukrainian army since 2014, when Kiev launched military operations to crush pro-Moscow protests there.

Ties between Moscow and the West worsened later that year when the Black Sea Crimean Peninsula voted in a popular referendum to separate from Ukraine and rejoin the Russian Federation.

The EU and the US accuse Moscow of having a hand in the conflict in eastern Ukraine and “of annexing” Crimea, allegations rejected by the Kremlin. The two sides have also slapped tit-for-tat economic sanctions on each other.

Germany and Russia, along with France, helped broker two peace deals between Kiev and pro-Moscow forces in 2014 and 2015, but the agreements have failed to end the violence.

Authorities in Berlin and Moscow have stated that the agenda of the talks on Tuesday will include preparations for July’s G20 summit in Germany as well as the situations in Ukraine and Syria, AFP reported.

Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert said “there are two topics that weigh down relations... the annexation of Crimea contrary to international law and then the destabilization of eastern Ukraine” by pro-Russia forces.

Seibert called this “a difficult context that one cannot ignore,” noting that “our intention is to try to integrate Russia into constructive agreements.”

He further added that the leaders would also prepare for the upcoming G20 meeting in Hamburg, though a German government source was quoted in the AFP report as saying that the visit would be “above all about the G20.”

Moreover, the Kremlin confirmed in a statement that Merkel and Putin would discuss the G20 meeting and the Ukraine peace agreement, adding that the German chancellor’s visit will also serve as an opportunity “to discuss the current state and prospects of bilateral relations.”

Merkel has strongly backed EU sanctions on Moscow following Crimea’s decision to rejoin Russia.

However, European leaders have grown divided in the past months over the anti-Russia sanctions, which have negatively affected the continent’s economy. 

Meanwhile, EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini insisted last week during her first official visit to Russia that cooperation between the two sides was “not frozen,” adding that progress was hampered by profound disagreements on issues such as Ukraine and Syria.

At the July G20 summit, Putin is expected to meet US President Donald Trump for the first time. Their relations are currently tense over unilateral US missile strikes against Syrian territory over a reported chemical attack that is yet to be investigated by international inspectors.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also due to meet Putin in Sochi on Wednesday.

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