A Marriage of Convenience? Putin and Merkel Find Common Ground Over Trump Woes

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will share their headaches about President Donald Trump during their meeting on Saturday.

The two will sit down at the German government's guest house just outside Berlin where they are expected to find common ground over trade and sanctions imposed by the US.

"An increased interest on both sides to talk about topics of common interest," said Stefan Meister with the German Council on Foreign Relations.

Putin and Merkel are far from being allies, but Meister points out that they will "not let themselves be pressured by Trump" and it "sends a signal to Washington that there are allies of the US that still do business with Russia."

The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which Trump criticizes as a form of Russian control over Germany, will also take center stage during the talks.

Both Merkel and Putin want to move forward with the project which would add a natural gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea.

But Trump fears the pipeline will make Germany be energy dependent on Russia.

The two world leaders are also expected to focus on the civil war in Syria and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Both Germany and Russia also have a common interest in Iran and support maintaining the Iran nuclear deal. Trump recently withdrew from the accord and imposed new sanctions on Iran, warning the US would penalize countries that continued to do business with the Islamic Republic.

"It's a working meeting and one shouldn't expect any special results," Merkel said of the upcoming talks. "But we're dealing with so many problems, from Ukraine to Syria to cooperation in the economic sphere, that it is justified to keep up a permanent dialogue."