Russian President Vladimir Putin is currently conducting a crucial series of meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Dresden, Germany, these days, whose discussion agenda is centered upon energy-related issues, the BBC reports. The two, who have already met in such circumstances five times this year, have constantly talked about the Russian gas fields, which provide no less than 30 percent of the energy needed by the European Union.

However, the series of scheduled talks come on an increasing politically fragile background, given that many German opposition members of the Parliament have voiced their criticism with regard to the fact that the German Chancellor should be more of a critic of the Kremlin administration for the obvious violations of the human rights laws, subtly referring to the latest string of events that have been taking place between Russia and Georgia, as well as to the ordered murder of the Russian female journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow, who has become a symbol of the impending dangers that await the Russian media while Vladimir Putin is still in power.

However, Merkel has voiced concern regarding the Russian democracy's state on numerous occasions, far more than the former Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder did, yet these were not powerful enough, German lawmakers assessed. According to a BBC correspondent in Germany, Steve Rosenberg, Merkel did not perform such criticizing statements of her Russian counterpart, in order not to let such an issue "cloud the special relationship" between the two countries, which seems to go far beyond what meets the eye.

The BBC correspondent also observed the fact that the German-Russian conference in Dresden, a city where Putin allegedly lived during the time he filled an office in the Russian secret services, come on the eve of Germany's taking over leadership of the G8, the most advanced countries in terms of industrialization. Furthermore, Germany represents one of the few main trading partners of Russia in the European Union, which is why Russia seems to be extremely interested in gaining Germany's confidence and assurance that the latter would continue to lead EU's foreign policies towards Russia during its presidency period.