The Slovak president’s visit to Russia would come as another impetus to bilateral contacts, Mr Putin said as he was opening negotiations with his Slovak counterpart.
He said that present-day Russian-Slovak relations were not merely free of whatever problems but were making dynamic progress in every sphere, including politics, trade and economic contacts, and culture.
Mr Schuster, in his turn, said that the negotiations proved the two countries’ desire to step up their mutually beneficial contacts.
Slovakia’s upcoming membership of the European Union and NATO would by no means impede further rapprochement between Moscow and Bratislava, he reassured.
A cold spell that had affected bilateral relations through certain politicians’ fault was over, Mr Schuster said as he pointed out the necessity of further progress of Russian-Slovak partnership, which based on historical links between the two nations, and their mutually related languages.