Russland-Politik in der Ära Merkel

The four terms of Chancellor Angela Merkel (2005–2021) are in the tradition of German policy toward Russia. The policy of partnership had been justified during Russia’s open-ended transformation in the 1990s. It lost its basis with the regime that Putin represented. A change in German policy failed to materialize because the politicians involved did not want to give away their self-image and the economic actors did not want to surrender their economic advantages. Although there were early warnings about authoritarian regression in Russia, German policy cooperated with a deeply corrupt and authoritarian regime and allowed it to access critical infrastructures in Germany. The war against Ukraine shattered these illusions of German politics. Please find the article here .