The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, will arrive in Moscow tomorrow for an official visit. He will meet Russia's new Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, the Communist speaker of the State Duma, Mr Gennady Seleznyov, and the Mayor of Moscow, Mr Yuri Luzhkov.
Mr Ahern will be accompanied by large trade delegation, ranging from the beef entrepreneur Mr Larry Goodman to representatives of language schools, who will have talks with Russian businesses in the course of the visit.
Tomorrow evening the Taoiseach will meet members of the Irish community in Silver's pub near the Kremlin. On Wednesday he will meet Mr Putin with whom he will sign bi-lateral agreements against drug trafficking and international crime. Following his meeting with Mr Seleznov, Mr Ahern will be guest of honour at a reception at the Irish embassy where he will launch Moscow - a guide to Soviet and post-Soviet architecture, by the Irish architect Ms Maria Kiernan.
He will lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier in the Alexandrovsky Gardens beside the Kremlin and will walk through the GUM shopping arcade.
On Thursday, he will fly to St Petersburg where he will meet the city's governor, Mr Vladimir Yakovlev.