Vladimir Putin and Romano Prodi will host the fourth Russian-Italian intergovernmental consultations in an expanded format on 14 March in Bari.

During the President of Russia's visit to Athens on 14-15 March, a Russian-Bulgarian-Greek summit will take place. This summit will coincide with the signing of the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria, and the Government of the Hellenic Republic on Cooperation in the Construction and Operation of the Burgas - Alexandroupolis Oil Pipeline.

Putin is to visit the Pope in the Vatican on Tuesday. It is the first time the two have met since Benedict succeeded the late Pope John Paul II in 2005. That meeting is to focus on the continued tensions between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church, which have stood in the way of a papal visit to Russia.

The Russian church accuses Roman Catholics of improperly seeking converts in areas that traditionally would be Russian Orthodox. Relations between the churches have improved gradually over the past several years, but the Russian church's representative for European affairs was quoted Monday as saying that it was too early to talk of the Pope visiting.

A meeting of Benedict and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II would depend on "an understanding on key issues, we first need to solve the existing problems," Bishop Hilarion was quoted as saying.

Putin is also to meet Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. He is also scheduled to attend a Greece-Russia-Bulgaria summit in Athens. An agreement on constructing the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline is to be signed during the summit.

The pipeline, bypassing Turkey's cramped Bosporus Strait, would carry Russian oil from Burgas on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast to the Greek port of Alexandroupolis on the Mediterranean. - Source: Kremlin Press and Mosnews