Putin's visit to Berlin: what to expect?

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed with the Russian Security Council's permanent members the issues of his talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, scheduled for tomorrow, Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"These are the implementation of large-scale joint commercial projects amid threats from third countries regarding these projects and the most relevant issues, both Ukraine and Syria, of course," the spokesman said referring to the agenda of the upcoming negotiations.

Merkel, in turn, said that the dialogue with Russia is important in the search for solutions to world crises, but the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin due on August 18 is unlikely to produce specific results at once.

"It's a work meeting from which no specific results are expected," she noted. "But the number of problems that occupy us - from Ukraine and Syria to the issue of economic cooperation - is so big that it is justified to be in a permanent dialogue," the chancellor said, speaking at a news conference with Montenegrin Prime Minister Dusko Markovic in Berlin.

Merkel added that a four-way meeting between Germany, Russia, Turkey and France on Syria could make sense. 

The President of the National Strategy Institute, Mikhail Remizov, speaking with the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that Berlin is still not ready for serious contacts with Moscow with the aim of confronting the aggressive foreign economic policy of the United States. "Despite the fact that Germany does not like the U.S. policy of extreme sanctions, which affects the activities of its companies in Iran, it leaves the U.S. policy unanswered. Like France, it is not ready to confront Washington, therefore, we should not count on  serious actions on the part of Berlin. Trump has maneuvered so skillfully that Europe cannot use the Russian factor against the U.S., while the U.S. president uses it against Western Europe," he said.

"Germany's position towards Moscow is now less hysterical than Washington's position. Germany is less insane, but its policy is still consistently anti-Russian. Germany has long ago withdrawn from the role of Russia's lawyer in the Western world and will not return to this role in the foreseeable future. It might be possible for France to take the initiative to restore the relations between Russia and Europe - but Macron will not do this because of his personal qualities, as well as political and ideological preferences," Mikhail Remizov warned.

Director of the Institute of Strategic Planning and Forecasting, Professor Alexander Gusev, noted that the main topic of the talks will be the economy. "During Merkel's visit to Russia, she reached a certain consensus with Putin on the construction of the Nord Stream-2, and I think this will be the first issue on the agenda," he expects.

After that, they will discuss Ukraine. "They will definitely talk about the Normandy format, since the situation in the Donbass is not easy, many analysts agree that Poroshenko is stepping up the military operation in the east. I think our president has information on this subject, and Germany can do a lot to prevent the escalation of hostilities," Alexander Gusev said.

"Then they will talk about Syria. Berlin does not directly participate in the Syrian settlement, but the flow of refugees to Europe, including Germany, continues. It is important for the Germans that the refugees go home. Germany is ready to restore infrastructure in Syria,invest in road construction, hospitals and schools. I think it will also be reflected in the negotiating agenda," the expert said.