Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Germany's former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder Monday evening, an AFP correspondent witnessed, with the two old friends exchanging hugs in Saint Petersburg amid Moscow's worst standoff with the West since the Cold War.
Putin arrived in his luxury government car at the historic Yusupov palace, an official residence in Saint Petersburg around 11 p.m. on Monday, as Schroeder stood waiting to meet the Russian president.
The two smiled and hugged before heading indoors to join other guests for a closed-door event. Russian press reported that their meeting was linked to Schroeder's 70th birthday on April 7.
He was nominated to the post by Russia's gas giant Gazprom, which holds the majority stake in the pipeline project that was launched in 2005 and began transporting gas in 2011.
Russia's relations with European countries, including Germany, have soured in recent months over Moscow's actions in Ukraine and its blitz annexation of the Crimean peninsula last month.
Schroeder is often accused of being a Putin apologist and has been widely criticised for statements in Putin's defence.
In March he compared Moscow's annexation of Crimea to NATO's intervention in Kosovo in 1999, a parallel that was rejected by Chancellor Angela Merkel as "shameful".
Putin arrived in his luxury government car at the historic Yusupov palace, an official residence in Saint Petersburg around 11 p.m. on Monday, as Schroeder stood waiting to meet the Russian president.
The two smiled and hugged before heading indoors to join other guests for a closed-door event. Russian press reported that their meeting was linked to Schroeder's 70th birthday on April 7.
He was nominated to the post by Russia's gas giant Gazprom, which holds the majority stake in the pipeline project that was launched in 2005 and began transporting gas in 2011.
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Russia's relations with European countries, including Germany, have soured in recent months over Moscow's actions in Ukraine and its blitz annexation of the Crimean peninsula last month.
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Schroeder is often accused of being a Putin apologist and has been widely criticised for statements in Putin's defence.
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In March he compared Moscow's annexation of Crimea to NATO's intervention in Kosovo in 1999, a parallel that was rejected by Chancellor Angela Merkel as "shameful".
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