Merkel, Putin meet on energy, trade, DPRK

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, highlighting energy supply, trade and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear crisis.

After talks with Merkel in eastern German city of Dresden, Putin told reporters that Russia will double gas exports to Germany in a move to lift energy concerns in the European Union.

Russia would send 50 billion to 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year to Germany in addition to the current 40 billion cubic meters, Putin said.

Russia plans to make Germany a European hub for gas exports from huge reserves under the Barents Sea, said Putin.

Germany "will become a major distributor of gas for Europe," said the Russian president.

Russian natural gas giant OAO Gazprom said Monday that piping gas supplies from the vast Shtokman gas field to Europe would take precedence over sending supplies to the United States.

Putin said Russia favored strengthening its economic ties with Germany which was already Russia's largest customer for energy supplies in Europe.

Concerns over energy security were raised at the beginning of the year when Russia temporarily cut supplies to some European countries during a row with Ukraine over prices.

Russia's gas fields, which supply the EU with about 30 percent of its natural gas, have always been on the top of the agenda during the talks between Merkel and Putin. Merkel has met Putin five times this year.

On the sidelines of their meeting, the two leaders oversaw the signing of a raft of deals aimed at strengthening the economic, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two countries.

A 100 million euro (126.6 million U.S. dollars) soccer sponsorship deal between the German Bundesliga club Schalke 04 and Russian oil giant Gazprom was signed on Tuesday.

In another contract, the European Aeronautics Defense and Space Company (EADS) with its aircraft arm Airbus and its Dresden freighter conversion subsidiary Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW) agreed with Russian aircraft manufacturer Irkut to form a joint venture to convert Airbus A320 passenger planes into freighters.

In the wake of the crisis triggered by the DPRK's nuclear test on Monday, both leaders denounced the test as an irresponsible act and called on the international community to keep vigilant on the developments in the region.

The Russian president, however, did not comment on whether his government would support sanctions against the DPRK.

Meanwhile, in his first public comments on the murder of a Russian journalist, Putin said "we must be clear that it was a dreadful and unacceptable crime which cannot be allowed to go unpunished."

Anna Politkovskaya, the 48-year-old journalist who was critical of the Chechnya war, was shot dead in Moscow Saturday by an unidentified gunman in an apparent contract killing.

Source: Xinhua