BERLIN, November 14. /TASS/. German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to continue dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin despite disagreements on Ukraine, deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Wirtz said on Friday.

The comment followed after the release of an interview with President Putin in which he denied any rift between him and the German leader.

Wirtz said Merkel “has been talking with the Russian president for weeks and months, since the beginning of the crisis” in Ukraine and “listens to what the Russian president has to say.”

In an exclusive interview with Russian state news agency TASS, Putin said he was scheduled to meet Merkel separately at the G20 summit this weekend in Brisbane, Australia.

“I have scheduled meetings there. With the German chancellor. A lot of meetings,” Putin said about his upcoming contacts on the sidelines of the summit.

The Russian leader dismissed allegations that his relations with Merkel had recently become more strained and less friendly.

“You know that we are guided by interests instead of sympathies and antipathies,” Putin said. “And she (Merkel) also had been guided by same interests just like any other leader of a nation, state and government. This is why I see neither considerable changes nor any substantial alterations in the nature of our relations,” he added.