By IRNA
Berlin : The office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed that it has been involved in a series of talks with the legal team of a leading jailed critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I can confirm that we have been in contact with the international lawyers’ team of Mikhail Khodorkovsky,” the deputy government spokesman Thomas Steg told journalists in Berlin on Friday.
The 45-year-old Khodorkovsky is serving a 10-year prison sentence on corruption charges.
Merkel and her Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier differ over the future policy towards Russia.
While Merkel has pressed ahead with the US strategic alliance after the fallout over the Iraq war, Steinmeier wants to speed up the rapprochement process with Russia.
Berlin-based foreign diplomats have repeatedly pointed to a growing number of differences between Merkel and Steinmeier in foreign policy areas like Russia, China, Syria and Iran.