Putin to raise Russia's profile in Germany

MOSCOW, Oct 10 (Reuters) President Vladimir Putin will raise Russia's profile in Germany in a two-day visit this week with a large sponsorship deal for one of the country's most popular soccer clubs.

Germany is Moscow's closest European partner and the largest export market in Europe for Russian oil and gas.

As well as deals in financial and infrastructure sectors, Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom will announce a deal to sponsor Bundesliga soccer club Schalke 04.

The club, which has a huge following in Germany's Ruhr industrial region, said it would unveil a 125-million-euro (7.5 million) Russian sponsorship deal today, the same day Putin is to visit the German city of Dresden.

Putin, meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the fifth time this year, will open a session of the ''Petersburg dialogue'' -- a debating forum designed to cement ties between Russian and German intellectuals -- being held in the Saxon capital.

Putin and former German leader Gerhard Schroeder had what Germans call a ''man-to-man friendship'', while Merkel, a fluent Russian speaker and the first chancellor from ex-communist east Germany, has talked more of partnership than friendship.

Since losing office last year, Schroeder has faced criticism for taking on a lucrative job as head of the Russian-led Baltic gas pipeline he helped start with Putin while chancellor.

Topping the agenda of talks between Putin and Merkel will be the forthcoming German presidencies of both the European Union and the Group of Eight, which Russia chaired for the first time this year and where energy security was top of the agenda.

''It is an enormously important meeting. There is an intensive debate going on in Germany about how to liberate itself from Russian gas,'' said Alexander Rahr, Russia programme director at the German Association for Foreign Policy.

German opposition politicians want Merkel to also bring up human rights issues following Saturday's murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya who was internationally famous for reporting abuses by troops in Russia's Chechnya province.

''The subject of whether the regime under Putin is ready to offer protection to journalists and human rights campaigners must be discussed,'' said Greens lawmaker Marieluise Beck.

Kremlin sources said the two leaders will also address areas of mutual concern including Iran, the Middle East, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans and the former Soviet Union.

GAS SECURITY Germany was shaken when supplies of Siberian gas were disrupted at the beginning of this year when Gazprom cut gas to Ukraine in a pricing dispute.

Gazprom is building a gas pipeline in a joint venture with German utility EON and chemicals firm BASF that will ship Siberian gas to Germany starting in 2010. Dutch Gasunie will also take a 9 per cent stake in the pipeline.

During Putin's October 10-11 visit, business deals are expected to be signed establishing a partnership between Russia's Vnesheconombank and Germany's Dresdner Bank in the area of public-private partnership projects.

Germany's export credit agency will also open a credit line to Vnesheconombank to expand a terminal at Kaliningrad airport.

Germany accounts for almost 10 per cent of Russia's foreign trade, but bilateral deals have been mostly medium size so far.

German firms have not been involved in huge strategic deals in Russia with the exception of the Baltic pipeline.

Putin, attending Dresden's 800th anniversary celebrations, will be returning to the city where he was a KGB agent in the late 1980s.

He will then travel on to Munich on Wednesday at the invitation of Bavarian state Premier Edmund Stoiber, and will also meet regional business leaders.

REUTERS LL BD0947