Eighteen years before Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, the then German chancellor Gerhard Schröder was asked for his opinion on President Vladimir Putin. That same year, Putin was re-elected by a landslide in an election widely regarded as a sham. His comments underlined a spirit of cooperation and friendship that had grown between the two countries since the end of World War Two.
Germany’s economy hugely benefited from imports of cheap Russian gas, culminating in the construction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea. That relationship has now hit an all-time low. On Wednesday, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, threatened Germany with direct military strikes in response to Berlin’s claim that Russia was behind a failed explosive drone attack at Leipzig Airport last month.
The drone, which was laden with explosives, failed to detonate near a Ukrainian cargo plane. The Kremlin said the accusation was "baseless," but Germany has responded by summoning Moscow's ambassador, ordering the closure of the Russian consulate in Bonn, and shutting down the Russian House cultural institute in Berlin. Germany’s leadership has also signalled plans to crack down on Russia’s maritime shadow fleet and announced support for an expanded European Union sanctions package.
Analysts say the deteriorating relationship between Moscow and Berlin is crucial of the future of Ukraine and Europe. Below The Independent looks at how one of Putin’s key economic partners became an enemy. Successive German governments under Schröder and Angela Merkel have sought deep economic integration with Moscow.
This strategy, rooted in the post-Cold War doctrine of Ostpolitik, was built on the belief that mutual commercial dependence would guarantee stability and deter Putin from threatening Europe. Central to the relationship was a reliance on Russian gas, which saw an enormous amount of fuel sold to Germany at cheap prices. The economic partnership between both states led to the construction of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2011, which delivered Russian fuel across the Baltic Sea to Germany.
Ian Bond, the deputy director of The Centre for European Reform (CER), said the signing of the 2015 Minsk II Agreement was another indicator of the strength of Russian-German relations at the time. Brokered under Merkel, the deal was widely criticised as effectively signalling Western acceptance of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea. Berlin refused to sever its economic ties to the Kremlin despite the annexation drawing international condemnation, repeatedly dismissing concerns from Washington and Eastern European allies that their relationship posed a risk to security.
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