NEWSLINK AICGS: Ostpolitik Reset; How Germany is Re-Evaluating its Relationship with Russia

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The Chancellery recently announced that Angela Merkel will not attend the May 9 Moscow celebration to mark the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II. She will, however, lay a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin the following day. This dual message symbolizes where German-Russian relations are today: reluctance to give official endorsement to Putin’s military parade while armed conflict continues in Ukraine but recognition that, because of Berlin’s special historical responsibilities,  Germany must continue to show respect to Russian citizens for the sacrifices they endured during the war. German-Russian relations have seriously frayed since Russia’s annexation of Crimea and they face a period of great uncertainty going forward. Merkel’s Ostpolitik—which seemed so successful for the past decade—has had to confront the new reality of an intransigent Russia that has challenged the fundamental premises of that policy. Berlin today must grapple with a new paradox: while the expectations of partnership of the past two decades have been jettisoned in face of Russia’s continuing support for the war in Ukraine, Germany has emerged as the only country that can broker an end to the most serious crisis in East-West relations since before Gorbachev came to power.

American Institute of Contemporary German Studies: Angela Stent, Ostpolitik Reset: How Germany is Re-Evaluating its Relationship with Russia.

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