By David Crossland in Berlin
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is unlikely to call her Russian colleague, Vladimir Putin, "Pootie Poot" or a "flawless democrat."
Gone are the days of public cuddling and sauna visits that have marked relations between Russian and German leaders since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Germany's new chancellor, Angela Merkel, signalled a decidedly no-nonsense approach during her inaugural visit to Moscow on Monday that reflected concern in Berlin about an excessive dependence on Russian gas and Russian human rights abuses.
In a break with tradition that is unlikely to have delighted the Kremlin, Merkel invited representatives of human rights organizations, the media and other associations for a reception at the German embassy in Moscow on Monday afternoon. Her predecessor Gerhard Schröder would have been more likely to digest his lunch on a sleigh ride with Putin than meet critics of the hardline Russian leader.
The two men
developed a close friendship that included birthday visits and a shared Christmas, and formed the basis of an axis between the two countries that was viewed with suspicion especially by the former Soviet satellite states wedged in between them including Poland and the Baltic states.
Putin even reportedly helped arrange Schröder's adoption of a three-year-old Russian orphan, Viktoria. The friendship prompted the chancellor to refrain from publicly criticizing Putin's domestic political record, which included shutting down independent TV stations, military crackdowns in Chechnya and what human rights groups have called the selective use of laws to remove potential political rivals such as Yukos oil baron Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
On the plus side, the two men did symbolize growing reconciliation between the enemies of the two world wars. Putin invited Schröder to the festivities marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II last year, an unprecedented honor for a German leader given the horrendous losses suffered by the Soviet Union, where 20 million people died after Nazi Germany invaded in 1941.
No Ice Age Expected
During Monday's visit, relations were decidedly less cuddly between Putin and Merkel, who is not known for her natural warmth and who spent her childhood in Russian-controlled Communist East Germany longing to travel to the west.
The body language said it all. Both looked sullen at their joint press conference after the meeting, and the few smiles they exchanged looked labored. "It was a good, important and serious meeting and there will be many more this year," said Merkel. Neither she nor Putin looked as if they were relishing the prospect.
Merkel said Germany would "watch" how Russia implements a controversial new law giving the state greater control over some 300,000 non-governmental organizations. Putin retorted with sarcasm that his government was "very pleased to see how our domestic laws get a lot of attention from our foreign partners." He added that the law would not impair the work of foreign NGOs in Russia.
The contrast in atmosphere compared with Schröder's days could not have been greater. Yet analysts say the end of close personal ties won't lead to a marked deterioration in relations between the two countries, simply because too much is at stake. It's a cold economic fact that they need each other -- Germany gets over 30 percent of its natural gas supplies from Russia and trade between the two countries surged 30 percent last year.
Also, the west needs Russia on board to put meaningful pressure on Iran in the diplomatic stand-off over Iran's nuclear program. That subject topped the agenda in Monday's talks between Merkel and Putin, diplomats said.
Besides, Merkel, with just two months in the job, has proven herself to be astute enough to avoid alienating the largest country on earth, and one of the richest in natural resources. The gas price dispute between Russia and Ukraine, during which Russia temporarily shut off gas supplies to its western-leaning neighbor in what was seen as a blatant political blackmail, hammered home Germany's own dependence on Russian gas and has sparked a feverish search here for long-term alternatives.
"Merkel has a certain coolness towards Russia, after all she grew up in what she would view as an occupied East Germany. But German business interests make good relations essential and she can't ignore that reality," said Alexander Rahr, Russia expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).
Vladislav Belov, Germany expert at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said: "We shouldn't reduce German-Russian relations to the friendship between these two men (Putin and Schröder). The foundations of our cooperation are much broader." Schröder was a "PR man" on Russia's behalf in the west, Belov told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper.
"Merkel could become the west's mouthpiece in Russia. She will certainly criticize Russia's policies but she is pragmatic enough to avoid hurting relations. The fact that Putin and Merkel won't be going to the sauna together doesn't mean German-Russian relations will get a cold shower," said Belov.
Diplomatic Successes
Merkel has won praise for her reserved, sober style on the international stage and was given credit for brokering a European Union budget deal last month. Her inaugural visit to Washington last Friday also went off smoothly despite her criticism earlier in the week of the detention of terror suspects without trial in Guantanamo Bay.
In an interview with SPIEGEL published last week, she was as frank about Russia as she was about the US.
Asked whether she would describe the German-Russian relationship as a friendship, she said: "It's more of a strategic partnership. I believe that we do not share as many values with Russia yet as we do with the United States. On the other hand, we have a strong interest in Russia developing in a reasonable direction."
She also said she was worried about "recent developments" in Russia, such as the new laws against non-governmental organizations.
But despite the frank comments, a factor that could help relations is that Merkel, who grew up in East Germany, is likely to have a better understanding of the Russian soul than Schröder or any of Germany's leaders.
For one, she speaks fluent Russian and is a fan of Russian music and literature. In fact she was so good at it that she won a school trip to Moscow for a Russian language competition in 1970, returning with a record of the Beatles hit "Yellow Submarine." As a young woman she also visited St. Petersburg and Ukraine, and spent a holiday hitchhiking through the southern Soviet republics as far as the Caucasus mountains. In the Georgian capital Tblisi she spent the night in a railway station shelter for the homeless.
She used to chat with the Russian soldiers stationed round her home town of Templin and they cheered her up when she moaned that she would have to wait until she was 65 before getting permission to travel to the West.
"They always told me: the country will be unified much sooner than that. It was always clear to these Russian soldiers. A divided country is something unnatural. And one shouldn't worry too much," she once said.
Russia analyst Rahr said: "Merkel knows the country well. She's not one for going on sleigh rides and she's unlikely to derive much enjoyment from listening to Cossack choirs but she has a pragmatic and sober understanding of the difficulties involved in transforming a country like Russia."
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