For decades, elites in Russia and Germany spoke of the two countries’ special responsibility to guarantee peace and stability in Europe. Those days are over, as Berlin has apparently decided it no longer needs to listen to Moscow.
The mantra in the German capital these days is that the alleged poisoning of opposition figure Alexey Navalny was a “turning point” in relations with Russia. Germany will deprioritize efforts to understand Russia and act as a mediator between its Western allies and Moscow. The pessimistic sentiment about the state of affairs is largely shared by the Kremlin, which has reacted with great anger to Germany’s hostile response to the very peculiar case of the Moscow protest leader and anti-corruption campaigner.
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