The upcoming summit between German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin will be held as scheduled despite the bloody terrorist attack on a Russian school, it was announced on Monday.

German government spokesman Bela Anda said that President Putin was still due to attend the meeting that begins Friday in Hamburg and continues in a nearby castle on Saturday.

Due to the attack last week on a school in Beslan, southern Russian, which led to 388 dead and 447 wounded, there were speculations on the German side that Russian president might not be able to come to Germany.

Schroeder and Putin have met regularly in the past. They chaired the bilateral governmental consultation in July in Moscow and held a trilateral summit with French President Jacques Chirac last week in the Russian resort of Sotschi.

(Xinhua News Agency September 7, 2004)