Merkel goes to Moscow at times of tense reports

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit Russia on August 20th for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The announcement was made by the Russian and German governments. Merkel's last visit to Moscow was in January 2020, but then she has held telephone talks with President Putin several times.

The meeting will discuss co-operation in various fields and the current state of bilateral relations. They will consider a number of international and regional issues”, the Kremlin's announcement said.

The meeting will be held at a time of tense reports between Russia and Germany.

A series of issues have influenced these tensions, including poisoning with a nervous agent by Russian opposition politician Alexei Navajo in August 2020, then the 2019 murder in Berlin of a Georgian citizen of Chechen origin, for whom Berlin has blamed Moscow, and a 2015 cyber attack against the German Parliament.

Chancellor Merkel's office announced earlier that it would visit the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, on August 22nd. Since 2014, when Russia annexed the Crime region in Ukraine, Berlin has been a supporter of Kiev. This conflict has claimed more than 13,000 lives.

However, one area of co-operation between Russia and Germany is the construction of the Russian pipeline North Stream 2. Germany has been criticised because of allowing construction of this pipeline, which will double Russian natural gas supplies to Germany.

The United States has said the project will increase dependence on Russian gas supplies, and will enable Ukraine to collect transit fees.

Berlin, however, has left open the possibility of creating a mechanism that would compensate Ukraine for lost income.

Merkel and Putin will also likely discuss the rapid deterioration of the security situation in Afghanistan. Merkel is towards the end of her fourth term as Chancellor and will leave office after the German elections on 26 September.