IS THE GERMAN „RUSSLANDPOLITIK” AT THE CROSSROADS? THE EVOLUTION OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY’S POLICY TOWARDS RUSSIA

Abstract

The author is analyzing the policy of Germany towards Russia after the year 1991 and the efforts of the German side to keep the best relations with Moscow. The apogee in this respect wasthe government of Gerhard Schröder (SPD). The taking over of the gov-ernment by Angela Merkel (CDU) in 2005 slightly changed the assumptions of the German policy towards Russia, because the pro-Russian SPD was still part of the ruling coalition. In the years between 2009 and 2013, when the ruling coalition consisted of the CDU/CSU and the FDP, Germany-Russia relations worsened because of the aggressive policy of Mos-cow. It was even spoken of an “ice age” in these relationships, which in the author’s opinion was considerable exaggeration. The foundation of a new Great Coalition (of the CDU and the SPD) makes us suppose, that the policy of Berlin towards Moscow is going to be more lenient, than in the past years.