BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will host Russian President Vladimir Putin outside Berlin on Saturday for discussions about the war in Syria, ongoing violence in eastern Ukraine and energy issues, a German government spokesman said.

The meeting will take place at the government's Meseberg palace outside Berlin, the spokesman said on Monday.

The two leaders last met in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi in May. Merkel and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Berlin last month, along with the head of Russian's military general staff, Valery Gerasimov.