Russia, Germany have common task of fully normalizing bilateral relations - Putin
MOSCOW. March 9 (Interfax) - Russia and Germany are facing the common task of normalizing their relations, all existing difficulties must be resolved, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"We understand where we are, in what state our relations are. As far as I understand, our common task consists in fully normalizing our relations, and all the difficulties we face might be resolved," Putin said at a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Thursday.
Putin said he is expecting to discuss at this meeting both bilateral relations between Russia and Germany and "problems that can only be solved with the combined efforts of many countries."
Gabriel thanked the Russian leader for finding time to meet with him. "Minister Lavrov and I already discussed a host of issues quite substantively today, and I think you are absolutely right: with all those difficulties, our task now is to take care of peace and stability in Europe. This is not easy but is worth the effort," the German minister said.