Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel. Demotix/Goncalvo Silva. All rights reserved.President Putin has ratcheted up his reign of fear at home after the latest political assassination in Moscow. He is also seeking to make Europe accept his might-is-right doctrine in Russia’s near abroad. All eyes are now on Europe’s acknowledged number one country: Germany. Can Chancellor Angela Merkel use Germany’s carefully-nurtured special relationship with Moscow to silence the guns in Ukraine and restore international order on Europe’s eastern flank?
Angela Merkel is a formidable politician, who has forcefully condemned Russia’s illegal actions in Ukraine and helped to forge enough unity among EU states to impose two rounds of sanctions against Moscow. Without her personal authority it is doubtful that the ceasefire agreed in Minsk on 12 February would have been achieved. Moreover, Germany has suffered more than any other European country from the impact of sanctions on its massive trade and investment dealings with Russia.
But Germany now needs to face up to the fact that its Russia policy is in shreds. That strategy, formalised in the coalition agreement between the governing CDU/CSU and Social Democratic Party in 2013, is to collaborate with Russia for stability in Europe, while in return Russia has to become more open and democratic. The offer of a conditional partnership has been trashed by Russia’s monumental breach of trust in trying to dismember Ukraine by force, and its brazen denial of its direct involvement in the conflict in the face of overwhelming evidence from NATO and other sources.
