OREANDA-NEWS. Berlin announced the approximate program of the visit of Chancellor Angela Merkel to Moscow on August 20.

Negotiations are planned with Vladimir Putin, a press conference and a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden, said German government spokesman Steffen Seibert.

The leaders are set to discuss the international agenda, including Afghanistan, Belarus and the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

The last time Merkel visited Russia was in May 2018, when her meeting with Putin took place in Sochi.

From the Russian capital, the chancellor will leave for Kiev. There she will honor the memory of those killed in the war, and will also talk with President Vladimir Zelensky and Prime Minister Denis Shmygal.

The official representative of the Cabinet of Ministers of Germany, Steffen Seibert, also named the topics that are planned to be raised at the meeting between Merkel and Putin. “It will be precisely about major international topics: the conflict in the east of Ukraine, for the solution of which Russia can do more than it does about Belarus,” he said.

Seibert also did not rule out that the situation in Afghanistan will be discussed at the talks.

Seibert announced on August 13 that Merkel would visit Russia shortly before her resignation. The Kremlin specified that the heads of state intend to discuss the state and prospects for the development of bilateral relations in various fields, as well as topical issues of a regional and international nature.