Visit to Germany
On April 7-8 Vladimir Putin made a working visit to Germany. The Russian president participated in the opening ceremony of the annual industrial fair in Hannover of which Russia was the main country-partner this year. The president said in his address that in conditions of continuing economic volatility “mutual trust and coordination of economic activities of various countries and enhanced dialogue between business circles were in high demand as never before. It is encouraging that Russia and Germany acted according to the partnership logic in these years.”
On the second day of the visit Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel laid a wreath to the memorial to Soviet inmates of the Alem concentration camp who died there during the last days of World War II. Later the Russian president and the German chancellor opened the Russian pavilion at the International industrial fair Hannover-2013 and viewed the displays of leading Russian and German companies. The visit ended with a joint press conference by Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel.
Vladimir Putin’s interview with ARD TV and radio company
On April 2 the Russian president gave an interview to the ARD TV and radio company on the eve of his working visit to Germany.
In response to the voiced concern over the situation with non-governmental organizations in Russia Vladimir Putin said “there are 654 operating non-governmental organizations in the Russian Federation which, as it became clear now, are financed from abroad.” At the same time “no activity, including domestic political activity, is banned for foreign-financed organizations. We simply want to know who receives the money and how it is spent.”
Asked whether he still trusts the euro the Russian president said: “We trust the euro, we trust the economic policy of great European powers and mostly the economic policy of the leadership of Germany.
We were right to keep a big volume of our gold and hard currency reserves and our reserves in general in the European currency.”
The interview was published on April 5.
Baltic Sea Forum
On April 5 Dmitry Medvedev participated in the Conference of the heads of state of the Baltic Sea region devoted to environmental protection (Baltic Sea Forum) held in St. Petersburg in the framework of the Russian presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States. On the same day major publications in Denmark, Iceland, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Finland, and Estonia carried his article The Baltics in the XXI Century: Environment is Priority”.
On the sidelines of the forum Dmitry Medvedev met Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen, Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius, and Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip.
The Russian prime minister held a press conference on forum results. Asked about prospects of improving bilateral relations between Russia and Baltic countries Dmitry Medvedev said: “If we exit from the framework of certain schemes which are sometimes ideological in bilateral relations we can give a good impulse to the development of economic cooperation and people-to-people contacts.
I hope it will happen.”
Russian Government – European Commission
On March 22 the Russian Government – European Commission meeting was held in Moscow.
A number of documents were signed after the meeting, including a roadmap for energy cooperation between Russia and the EU up to 2050. A day earlier Dmitry Medvedev participated in the international conference Russia – European Union: Partnership Prospects which was also held in Moscow. The conference began with speeches by Dmitry Medvedev and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. Medvedev stressed that for Russia the development of relations with the European Union was a long-term priority. It is important to design a stable basis for interaction. It is inappropriate and dangerous to delay the work, Medvedev said.
Vladimir Putin meets Jose Manuel Barroso
On March 21 the Russian president met the European Commission president in Moscow. They discussed one-on-one prospects for economic cooperation between Russia and the European Union and preparations for the G20 summit in St. Petersburg, as well as the Cyprus problem.