1 Dec 2018 15:30

Putin meets with Merkel during working breakfast

BUENOS AIRES. Dec 1 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun the second day of his stay in Buenos Aires with a working breakfast with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Merkel arrived at the Alvear Palace hotel, where the Russian president is staying, for a meeting with Putin.

Putin warmly greeted her, invited her to the table and asked about her further plans for the G20 summit.

The breakfast was a closed-door event.

Presidential aide Yury Ushakov, press secretary Dmitry Peskov, and Russia's G20 sherpa Svetlana Lukash represented the Russian side at the breakfast.

Head of the German Federal Government's Press and Information Office, Steffen Seibert, Merkel's foreign policy advisor Jan Hecker, and Germany's sherpa at the G20 Lars-Hendrik Roller represented the German one.

On Friday, Putin has already briefly talked to Merkel, when the joint photo of the G20 member states leaders had been taken. The ceremony took place at the Teatro Colon, followed by a gala on the occasion of the summit's opening.

Putin and Merkel stood nearby during the ceremony and said a few words to each other.