On Tuesday, January 18, Annalena Burbock, the new German Foreign Minister and co-chair of the Green Party, visited Moscow for the first time in her capacity as foreign minister. With their Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov, they discussed the most sensitive topics on the bilateral agenda — the fate of Nord Stream 2, a possible meeting in the Normandy format, economic and scientific cooperation, and, of course, European security in the context of Ukraine.
New German Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Photo: press service of the Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS
Burbock is one of the most implacable critics of Russia in the new German government and, at the same time, a young minister with no experience in heavyweight international politics. Contrary to expectations, the meeting with Lavrov turned out to be “difficult”, but, judging by the final statements, not at all tough, and Burbock showed herself to be a restrained and courteous diplomat.
True, this did not save the Russian stock exchange from disaster. The collapse, which began after the first stages of negotiations on European security with all interested parties, is becoming more intense.
“First dance”
Annalena Burbock began her mini-tour on November 17 in Kiev, where she met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba. In Ukraine, she made a series of blunt statements, warning Moscow that «any renewed aggression would be costly — economically, politically and strategically.»
Burbock traveled to Kiev and Moscow not as a glib left-wing «green» politician, but primarily as a representative of the government of the Social Democrat Olaf Scholz. And in this sense, her primary task was to promote foreign policy agreements from the coalition agreement of the new German Cabinet, which included openness to cooperation with Moscow.
The head of the German Foreign Ministry guaranteed support to the Ukrainian authorities on the issue of a possible conflict on the border with Russia, but at the same time ruled out any possibility of supplying weapons to the Ukrainian army, speaking from clear anti-militarist positions. “Diplomacy is the only effective way to defuse the current extremely dangerous situation,” she said in Kiev.
On the whole, Burbock began her career as Foreign Minister with tough speeches and measures in the Russian direction. As soon as she took office in December, she announced the expulsion of Russian diplomats after the sentencing of alleged FSB officer Vadim Krasikov, who received a life sentence for the murder of former Chechen warlord Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin's Tiergarten park.
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“This is a crime <…> represents the most severe violation of German law and the sovereignty of the FRG,” she said then. “We need an open and honest dialogue with Russia. <…> It is absolutely clear that events such as the murder in the Tiergarten burden this dialogue.”
The German newspaper Die Zeit called Burbock's further trip to Moscow the minister's “first dance”. And she began this dance with a respectful gesture — she laid flowers at the tomb of the unknown soldier.
“Nothing can compensate for the suffering we have inflicted on the peoples of the Soviet Union. The readiness of peoples for reconciliation is important. There is no greater responsibility than to protect our peoples from war and violence,” said Burbock, moving from the topic of World War II to the issue of the Ukrainian conflict.
However, as the correspondent of Die Zeit notes, Lavrov performs this dance «as routinely as cunningly.» To Burbock’s remark that Germany “it’s hard not to see a threat in 100,000 Russian soldiers on the border of Ukraine,” the Russian minister dutifully replied that it was about the deployment of Russian troops on Russian territory, and all countries are engaged in increasing combat readiness. “We do not give any reasons for new conflict situations,” he concluded.
Burbock, in her own words, came to the meeting with Lavrov with a “thick folder” of documents on all critical issues. Probably, the thickness of the folder explains the fact that the talks between the two foreign ministers went on for an hour and a half longer than planned. alt=»» />
Photo: Alexey Maishev/POOL/TASS
During a press conference, German journalists reminded their new minister that Germany under Merkel played the role of virtually the only conductor between Moscow and the EU, and wondered if whether Germany Scholz continue this line. The head of the German Foreign Ministry again proposed not only to conduct a bilateral open dialogue, but also to invite all European partners and NATO countries to the table.
In the same context, the ministers raised the topic of the Normandy Format and the Minsk agreements — the meeting of the leaders of Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine to resolve the conflict was last held in 2019, and Berlin is in favor of resuming contacts at the highest level. Sergey Lavrov did not show such enthusiasm.
“The main thing is not when to meet, but why to meet.
If we meet so that Mr. Zelensky can again say that a group of respected leaders has gathered on his initiative, and on this he considers his mission accomplished, then we don’t need this,” he said.
“We need Russia”
At the first meeting in Moscow, Burbock acted in many ways as a humanitarian envoy. She repeated several times that Germany remains a trading nation for which economic and scientific exchange is important. She recalled that 14,000 Russians are now studying in Germany, and 360,000 people in Russia are studying the German language — nowhere else in the world is there such an interest in German culture.
At the same time, in May 2021, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office recognized three German NGOs as “undesirable”: the Forum of Russian-Speaking Europeans, the Center for Liberal Modernity, and the German-Russian Exchange. The authorities of the Russian Federation believe that the activities of these organizations “pose a threat to the foundations of the constitutional order and the security of the Russian Federation.”
Because of this, cooperation between Moscow and Berlin in the humanitarian and cultural spheres was partially interrupted. So, for example, the forum of civil societies of Russia and Germany «Petersburg Dialogue» is not actually held. Following the talks with Burbock, Lavrov confirmed his intention to resume the work of the Russian-German forums.
Despite the fact that throughout the entire construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Annalena Burbock consistently called for the project not to be launched and called it political, in Moscow the minister corrected her position in accordance with the agreement of the ruling parties in Germany. “The new coalition agreement emphasizes that any infrastructure projects must comply with European legislation, both in letter and in spirit,” she said, referring Russian journalists to the fact that now only the lack of certification and registration of the operator prevents the launch of the pipeline.
“We need Russia. To provide energy, to overcome the climate crisis,” summed up Burbock.Problem Germany and collapsed Russia
Negotiations between Lavrov and Burbock in every sense became a continuation of long-term consultations between Brussels, Washington and Moscow on security in Europe. After discussing the Ukrainian issue with his Russian counterpart, Burbock plans to meet with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on January 20 in Berlin. Lavrov is also scheduled to have talks with Blinken on January 21.
Both the meeting of the Russia-NATO Council and consultations within the OSCE did not bring any results, rather, uncertainty in the markets. On January 13 and 14, after the first rounds of negotiations, the ruble began a sharp decline, and the Moscow Exchange index fell below 3600 points for the first time since mid-December.