MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s talks with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel lasted for nearly three hours. The leaders will give a joint news conference.

First, Putin and Merkel held a conversation in the Green Room of the Grand Kremlin Palace. Taking part in the meeting were Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, German cabinet’s spokesperson Steffen Seibert and head of the Foreign and Security Policy Group of the Federal Chancellor’s Office Uta Christina Beinhoff. After the protocol part, the talks continued behind closed doors and in the format of a working dinner.

It is Merkel’s 19th visit to Russia and probably the last one as German Chancellor as she is not planning to run for another term in the office at the upcoming parliamentary elections in September.