Putin hails growing ties between Russia and Germany

Russian President Vladimir Putin has voiced satisfaction with the development of relations between Moscow and Berlin despite the recent difficulties and expressed the hope that the positive trends will persist, TASS reports.

"Our relations are developing at the national level despite certain difficulties," he said at a meeting with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel in the Kremlin. Putin noted that "the trade turnover is growing, it has grown substantially this year for the first time." There are other positive trends too, the Russian president noted.

"We are happy about this, we need to consolidate this. I hope that your visit will contribute to that as well," Putin told Gabriel.