SOCHI, January 11. /TASS/. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is a very sincere person with a vision on the settlement of various issues, including on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with German daily Bild.

"I am confident that she is a very sincere person," Putin said. "She has the frames, within which she must work, but I have no doubts that she is sincerely striving to find solutions to the settlement of the conflicts, including the situation in the southeast of Ukraine."

The Russian president said he always treated Merkel with respect and "this is the way I still keep treating her."

"In any case, I believe that the level of trust between us is very high," Putin said adding that once he even had to apologize to the German chancellor.

In 2007, the Russian president brought his dog Connie to one of the bilateral meeting with the German chancellor and it turned out later that Merkel was afraid of dogs, while some of media agencies reported that Putin did it on purpose to intimidate the German high-ranking official.

Putin told Bild he did not know at that time that Merkel was not fond of dogs.

"I knew nothing about it," he said. "On the contrary, I wanted to do something pleasant when I introduced her to my dog. Afterwards, however, I explained everything and apologized.".