Steinmeier, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said progress had been made but there was no sign of a breakthrough on issues including a Russian ban on imports of Polish meat and a row between Moscow and Estonia that have strained Russia's relationship with the bloc.
"Preparing for the summit has been difficult," Steinmeier said after his talks with Putin. "There have been a number of specific problems which we have not been able to solve over the past few weeks. Keeping silent about them doesn't help," he said.
