Merkel to hold Putin talks on rare Russia visit

Sochi : German Chancellor Angela Merkel will on Tuesday meet President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on her first visit to Russia since 2015, in a signal of renewed dialogue as deep strains remain over Ukraine.

The Russian and German leaders have scaled back links as Moscow's ties with the EU plunged to a post-Cold War low over the crisis in Ukraine. 

Berlin has said the meeting will "above all" focus on the upcoming G20 summit in Hamburg in July and no major breakthroughs are expected on bridging the deep rifts between the two sides. 

Merkel has strongly backed EU sanctions on Russia for seizing Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and supporting the pro-Kremlin separatist insurgency in the east of the country.

Moscow has responded with an embargo on agricultural products from the West, and a European-brokered peace plan to end the conflict has hit a dead end. 

In her first official visit to Russia last week, EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini insisted that cooperation between the two sides was "not frozen" but said that progress was hampered by profound disagreements on subjects including Ukraine and Syria.

Merkel's visit to Russia comes after Putin called for the countries' relations "to fully normalise", while meeting German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel in March.

Merkel last visited Russia in May 2015 when she met Putin in Moscow but, like most Western leaders, snubbed a Red Square parade for the 70th anniversary of World War II victory.