Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met outside Berlin on Saturday for talks ranging from the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, to Iran and a gas pipeline project that has drawn U.S. ire. Standing beside Putin, Merkel said both countries — but especially Russia, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council — have a responsibility to tackle these problems. Diplomatic dialoguePutin arrived in Germany on Saturday evening after a stop at an Austrian vineyard to attend Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl's wedding to entrepreneur Wolfgang Meilinger. "We want to create new momentum in the Minsk [peace] process," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in an interview to be published by Die Welt am Sonntag on Sunday. Maas said he had spoken with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin this week, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was due to visit Berlin again on Sept. 14 after a meeting with Merkel in the German capital last month.

Source: CBC News August 18, 2018 22:41 UTC