Deutsche Börse has set its sights on Russian expansion and has proposed opening an equity trading and listing platform with one of its Moscow counterparts, according to a letter the exchange group sent to an aide of President Putin.

Frank Gerstenschläger, a member of the executive board at Deutsche Börse, reportedly sent a letter to Russia's foreign policy adviser Sergei Prikhodko in December, discussing the role of the German exchange in the development of the Russian financial market, according to Russian business paper Vedomosti.