BERLIN, April 28. /TASS/. German Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to discuss the situation in Syria and Ukraine during the talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on May 2, German government spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told a press briefing in Berlin on Friday.

According to Seibert, the reason for the visit to Russia is preparations for the G20 summit in Hamburg. However, "problematic issues, such as Ukraine and Syria, will be discussed as well."

No discussion of possibility to expand G7 Group by including Russia

The possibility to expand the G7 Group by including Russia is not currently under consideration, Seibert said.

Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that Moscow had no plans to resume its activities as a member of the G8 Group.

The G7 Group consists of the United States, Canada, Japan, Italy, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. In 1994, Russia’s president was invited to join the group’s Naples summit for the first time, thus the G7 became the G8.

In 2014, Russia took over the G8 presidency, the group’s summit was scheduled to be held in the city of Sochi. However, in the wake of the events in Ukraine and Crimea’s reunification with Russia, the summit was moved to Brussels while Russia did not participate.

Berlin interested in Moscow’s involvement in discussing global issues

Germany is interested in Russia’s involvement in the constructive discussion of the key international issues, according to Seibert.

"We doing our best to make sure that Russia is involved in looking for constructive solutions to problems and dealing with other foreign policy challenges and crises," he said.