Merkel to Putin: The constant

Inconvenient, but also endeavoring to engage in dialogue in times of crisis – that is what Russian President Putin values ​​about Chancellor Merkel. Now she is coming to Moscow for her last visit as Chancellor, of all places on the anniversary of the Navalny poisoning.

You don’t need Kremlin astrology to predict what the Russian President and Chancellor will talk about: Afghanistan, the Taliban, the refugees. About Belarus, Eastern Ukraine and Nord Stream 2. About the tense German-Russian relationship. About espionage and hacker attacks. About the parliamentary elections in both countries.

Because even if it is clear that Angela Merkel is leaving the Chancellery soon – for the Kremlin she is anything but a “lame duck”, a politically lame duck. She is an interlocutor who Vladimir Putin respects and values:

She is an experienced politician and a very direct person. Very reliable. In everything we have agreed on. She is – and this is amazing to me – a very consistent person who defends his position.

Little welcome reallocation

At the beginning of Merkel’s term in office, however, the Kremlin had to get used to this blunt, cool, pragmatic manner. The fact that before her first official visit to Moscow in January 2006 she rededicated the friendship that Chancellor Gerhard Schröder had demonstratively cultivated into a “strategic partnership” was not well received. There was talk of a new Iron Lady.

Putin was in demand here, said the Deputy Head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Duma, Natalja Narotschnitzkaja at the time. Maybe he could use his male intuition to give the whole thing a personal touch.

And so there were cream-colored roses for the Chancellor in Sochi. A bit of licorice rasps in Moscow in 2016, when Putin declared that, from his point of view, there was definitely an absolute role model among the Germans. Let it be – the Chancellor.

Stay in touch – even in a crisis

The Kremlin appreciates the fact that Merkel did not let the conversation break off even in difficult times. Neither after the war in Georgia in 2008 nor after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Even when the German-Russian relationship deteriorated significantly, she stuck to her stance that it was better to talk to one another instead of about one another: “And then tried to understand each other’s arguments. ”

In one case, however, it went completely wrong in the end – in the Navalny case. That the Chancellor visited the Kremlin critic at the Charité after he was flown from Omsk to Berlin – an affront for Moscow.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov even addressed the Chancellor directly. He publicly accused her of irresponsibly accusing Russia: without providing any evidence for the alleged crime. In a statement that has now been published, the Russian Foreign Ministry stepped up again. There is talk of a malicious, aggressive propaganda campaign against Russia.

An artificially created case?

The Navalny case, it is said, was artificially created by Berlin and its allies in order to take comprehensive measures under the guise of human rights to weaken and pillory Russia.

The Navalny case, the ban on his organizations and the pressure on his comrades-in-arms are likely to come up again today, on the anniversary of the poisoning. Because Merkel, says the Russia expert Alexander Rahr, would not be Merkel if she left out such topics.

Unlike Kohl and Schröder, it has always pursued a policy of liberal values ​​with a view to Russia. She always wants to discuss human rights issues, the rule of law and the development of civil society in Russia.

No time for anecdotes

In view of the many serious issues, there should hardly be time for a few anecdotes from the long joint reign: from the trial attack by Putin’s Labrador dog Koni to the real little joys.

The Russian President, Merkel once chatted up close and personal, likes to drink German beer. This gives you the opportunity to exchange ideas. You, in turn, have already had very good smoked fish.

And then of course there is still the question of how things will continue politically in the German-Russian relationship. According to Angela Merkel, who has always been a constant for the Russian leadership – even in unpredictable times.