Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Germany for talks
with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on thorny issues including
Iran's nuclear program and independence for Kosovo.
The Russian president arrived in Germany's Frankfurt airport two
hours later than scheduled due to snows in Moscow, according to a
report by German news agency DPA.
The planned reception by the Germans in the southwestern city of
Wiesbaden where the two leaders are to hold talks on Monday is
canceled due to the delays, said the report.
But Merkel is still waiting to have dinner with Putin in the
suburb of Hattenheim near Wiesbaden, it said.
Merkel in her weekly broadcast speech said she would talk with
Putin on "how to deal with Iran and the necessity of new
sanctions."
Russia has insisted sanctions are not the right option to make
Iran stop its nuclear program which Iran claimed was used to
generate power only.
Kosovo is another topic that could dominate the talks between
the two leaders.
The US and some European countries are pushing for "supervised
independence" of the Serbian province, but Russia has threatened to
veto any move in the UN Security Council to grant Kosovo
independence.
Merkel and Putin are due to hold talks within the framework of
the Petersburg Dialogue, a civil society forum.
The mechanism was set up in 2001 by Putin and former German
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in an effort to promote Russia-Germany
relations.
(Xinhua News Agency October 15, 2007)
