Frozen environment between Baerbock and Lavrov

Als Annalena Barbach Sitting across from his host Sergei Lavrov, the opening remarks were diplomatically polite, but formally frozen. “There is no alternative to the stable relations between Moscow and Berlin,” says Berbach, who wants to continue working, which is the vision of the entire German government. Barbaugh talks about the deep historical dimension of German-Russian relations and the “ever-present historical pain between our two countries.” Germany will be “eternally grateful” for Russia’s role in defeating national socialism. He wanted to discuss the “full range” of current issues “quietly,” he told an immobile Russian ally, including “those that have put pressure on our friendly relations.”

The hosts had previously informed the new foreign minister in writing of what the problems would be from a Russian perspective. Prior to the meeting, the Moscow side released a long list of German sins and violations in interpersonal relations. After all the pleasures, it says, “we are disappointed with the current state of Russian-German relations, which is going through a difficult period due to the trend of many obstacles that official Berlin is pursuing towards our country.”

The following evidence in the text indicates the “significant permanent presence” of the Bundeswehr in Lithuania, which is certainly not significant (in battalion strength) or subject to Berlin’s understanding and NATO’s perspective, but subject to it. Fixed stationary changes. Germany is a logistics hub for US troops, and Berlin’s support for EU sanctions against Moscow has been listed and criticized. The brief complaint on the list is that “Germany continues to act against us” in many of the current international issues, which show that Berlin is carrying out “unfriendly acts” by expelling Russian ambassadors to Berlin; It creates undesirable conflict situations by accusing Russian officials of poisoning an opposition figure. Alexei Navalny Must have been involved in an assassination attempt on a “terrorist” in Berlin.

Even after the talks, which lasted twice as long as estimated, the atmosphere between the two ministers remained unchanged. In the salutation it becomes clear: “Mr. colleague,” Barbach agrees Lavrov. The rapid shift to the most common familiar rules among top diplomats who see each other frequently and consistently in international negotiations, apparently did not take place this morning. From the statements made by both, it can be concluded that the exchange of mutual accusations has taken place before. As for the “security guarantees” that Russia is now demanding from NATO and the West, Moscow is not looking to Berlin for answers anyway.