Putin Says He Admired Late German Ex-Chancellor Kohl in Condolences Message

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday send a condolences message to the German leadership over the death of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the Kremlin press service said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Kohl, 87, died in his house in western German city of Ludwigshafen earlier on Friday. He served as the sixth Chancellor from 1982 to 1998, being the longest serving German chancellor since Otto von Bismarck.

"I sincerely admired his [Kohl's] wisdom, his ability to make weighted, far-sighted decisions even in the most difficult situations."

"In Russia, he will be remembered as a principled supporter of the development of friendly relations between our countries, who has made a great contribution to the strengthening of mutually beneficial bilateral partnership and good-neighborliness," the telegram says.

In 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall Kohl proposed to reunite Germany. The reunification occurred in October 1990. On December 2, 1990 the coalition he led secured the majority of seats in the Bundestag during the first nationwide elections since 1933. Kohl became the first chancellor of the reunited Germany.

Helmut Kohl is the author of several books on German history. He was awarded with German and foreign orders.