German Vice Chancellor goes to Putin

- German Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) travels next week to Moscow to talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The one-day visit Monday is mostly dominated by economic relations, which have suffered from sanctions imposed by the European Union.

The office of Chancellor Angela Merkel has been informed about the journey of Gabriel, the newspaper Rheinische Post reported Tuesday. Gabriel also spoke with Putin in Moscow in October 2015. The conversation then took two hours longer than expected. Merkel itself was most recently in May 2015 with Putin in Moscow to commemorate the end of World War II in May 2015.