The Head of Sberbank of Russia, German Gref, the head of a large Russian conglomerate Renova Group, Viktor Vekselberg, and the chairman of the supervisory board of the world’s largest aluminum company “Rusal”, Oleg Deripaska, are among Russian businessmen accompanying the minister.
The meeting is closed to the press.
Earlier on Saturday, the Russian minister was in talks behind closed doors with German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel
The German politician has taken the heat off the situation by complaining that he had only three hours to sleep and was up as early as 4:00 a.m. in order to meet with his Russian counterpart.
The conflict in Ukraine is topping the agenda this year.
The Conference, sometimes referred to as the “Davos of Defense,” is an international, nongovernmental, independent conference for discussing major security issues.
Founded in 1962 by German publisher Ewald von Kleist, the first conference took place in Munich as an informal meeting of representatives from the defense departments of NATO member countries to discuss Trans-Atlantic partnership issues.
Initially, the conference was held under the aegis of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria and until 1992 was known as the Defense Conference (Wehrkundetagung).
Since 1998, the forum has been financed by the German government from the Defense Ministry’s budget.
