Scholz’s outreach shows Germany’s Russia-friendly ‘Russlandverstehr’ is still the bridge

This divergent-Russia approach of centre-left Scholz (of the Social Democrats or SPD) and his flamboyant Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock and Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht symbolizes the ‘Russlandwürster’ (which favors engagement with Russia) in German politics. Lambrecht is also from the SPD, Barrbach is from the Greens party.

On 14 December the first call between Bairbock and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was initiated by the German side. When he first proposed “honest and open dialogue”, Bairbock was reconciling. “The territorial integrity of Ukraine must not be violated. Progress is needed in the Normandy format…visa-free arrangements for young Russians and cooperation on hydrogen were also discussed.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry, “emphasized its determination to build dialogue with the new government of Germany.” Lavrov upheld the Minsk Agreements as “the sole basis”, appealing to Germany “as a member of the Normandy draft (to exert influence on the Ukrainian authorities).” The United States itself advocates a “peaceful solution” and calls on Ukraine “to exercise restraint”, while at the same time focusing on North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) eastward expansion and increasing naval exercises in the Black Sea. emphasizes.

Blinken has threatened nothing beyond “high-impact sanctions”, “serious consequences”, while quietly approving the sale of Turkish drones to Kiev. Scholtz himself won chancellorship, promising to continue the legacy of Merkel (who was from the Christian Democratic Union). “Putin Whisper” and Russian-fluent Merkel grew up in the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany), where she was part of the Communist Youth League. Former KGB chief Putin could also return the favor with all his German proficiency.

The Russlandversteher is the product of the Ostpolitik of the then West German Chancellor Willy Brandt’s warm relations with the Soviet Union, which assisted in the reunification of Germany. According to Rolf Mutzenich, SPD leader in the Bundestag (parliament), a “smart foreign policy driven and envisioned by the chancellor” indicated that Scholz would have the last word. Despite former foreign minister and SPD leader Heiko Maas’s bigotry on Russia, Merkel herself successfully ensured the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline was completed and lobbied for Biden to lift it from sanctions.

The current German president of the SPD, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the far-left Die Linke and even the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) have a highly favorable view of Moscow. The Free Democrats (FDP) Wolfgang Kubiki also suspected the alleged Russian assassination attempts of his double agent, Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury, Britain, and activist Alexei Navalny. Interestingly, the apprehension of a full-on Russia confrontation also haunts Baz, as evidenced by Bairbock’s statement when she first visited Washington on January 5. Speaking with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, warning Russia with an “extremely high political and economic cost”, said “the only way out of the crisis is through dialogue.”

According to Moscow-based analyst Andrew Koribko, “Germany will still struggle with a sovereign policy with Russia.” Merkel herself succumbed to US pressure when she reacted adversely to the referendum in Crimea to merge with Russia in March 2014, and sanctions against Moscow after intervening to support pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk and Lugansk. supported. The subsequent confusion of Merkel Germany is being exploited by France and Poland to lead the European Union and Central Europe. Macron engages both President Vladimir Putin in challenging Russia in the Black Sea.

Russlandversteher is often applied to business communities that took a hit after America’s anti-Russian sanctions. “But they still advance the interests of both German and EU because neither Berlin nor Moscow will use Nord Stream-2 not only because of the strong buyer-seller stake, but also because it will support the Kremlin’s claims.” Will reject that this is strictly apolitical,” added Koribko. That former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is the chairman of Nord Stream 2’s parent company puts things in perspective.

But for Professor Glen Deisen of the University of South-Eastern Norway, “Wylie Brandt’s ostpolitik is long gone, and Russia has abandoned Gorbachev’s dream of a common European home.” Ironically, it was Gorbachev’s acceptance of reunification against which he was promised non-German NATO forces and military formations absent from the former GDR.

NATO continued to expand under Presidents George HW Bush and Bill Clinton, despite promises to do so according to declassified documents. Following the illegal and disastrous invasion of Yugoslavia, rejecting a pro-Russian referendum in Crimea, while openly supporting an insurgency against the democratically elected pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovich, was no less provocation for Russia.

Russian anti-Ukrainian nationalists have links with neo-Nazi groups in World War II, where they participated in anti-Semitic genocide along with the German Wehrmacht, a post-war ‘German crime’ of the face. Astonishing astonishment. Taking a tough stance on Russia should not mean Europe’s largest economy. And as America’s great power rivalry with China and Russia grows, a gap between the two most consequential nations of Eurasia would herald a lasting peace in Europe.

(The author is an independent researcher and journalist covering military affairs at the intersection of foreign policy, economics, technology, society and history. Views expressed are personal and do not reflect official position or policy) financial express online, Reproduction of this material without permission is prohibited).