Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has met with his German counterpart Heiko Maas on the sidelines of a meeting of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers in the Finnish capital of Helsinki on Friday.

Axar.az reports citing TASS.

The meeting between the Russian and German top diplomats took place behind closed doors.

The German Foreign Ministry said earlier that the parties would discuss bilateral relations, the situation in the Middle East, the Ukrainian issue and Russia’s Council of Europe membership.

The Russian foreign minister is scheduled to meet with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland and Belgian top diplomat Didier Reynders later in the day.