Russian President Vladimir Putin is to visit Berlin next week for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, the German government said Friday, DPA reported.
Putin, who was president from 2000 to 2008, was inaugurated for a fresh term four weeks ago.
Merkel is to welcome him at her office with a military guard of honour and lunch on June 1, her spokesman Steffen Seibert said.
Putin's first foreign trip will be a visit Thursday next week to neighbouring Belarus, with Germany to follow the next day.
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