THE NEW GOVERNMENT OF GERMANY AND GERMAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS

Abstract

On December 8, 2021, the new coalition government of Germany began its work, an important area of the country’s foreign policy development is relations with Russia, Germany’s leading partner in the post-Soviet space. In many ways, they determine the parameters of cooperation between the European Union and the Russian Federation and its partners. The SPD, Union 90 / Greens, FDP, during difficult negotiations, agreed on common approaches to cooperation with Russia, which eventually united the value, economic, civil and political «Russian» denominators of the three party election programs. At the same time, the provisions enshrined in the coalition agreement are based on the foundation of bilateral relations built by the last two cabinets of ministers under the leadership of A. Merkel, incl. during 2021, the year that marked the end of the era of the former Chancellor. Just a week after the start of the government, bilateral relations were tested for strength in the political and economic spheres. The new year 2022 began in difficult conditions of escalating confrontation between the collective West, including Germany, and official Moscow. Under these conditions, on January 18, the German and Russian foreign ministers held talks, clarifying their mutual positions on the most important issues on the bilateral and international agenda. On February 15, Russian President V.V. Putin and Chancellor O. Scholz continued to discuss the most important topical issues of cooperation. The author sums up the political and economic results of cooperation between the two leading countries of the European continent in 2021, and also analyzes its prospects in 2022, paying special attention to the role of Germany and the Russian Federation in resolving the intra-Ukrainian conflict.