[LINK] "The Cyprus crisis reveals much about German-Russian relations"

[rfmcdonald]

Writing for The Guardian, one Stefan Meister argues that the Cyprus conflict is as much a matter of Russian-German competition as anything else.

From the Russian perspective, two aspects of the current crisis over the island are difficult to understand. First, it is unclear why the EU is not able to give Cyprus the relatively small amount, €17bn, required to avoid bankruptcy. Cyprus may be small, but it is important for the overall credibility of the euro. Second, if the EU really wanted to have Russian money for the bailout, then they should have involved Moscow in the process from the beginning, to work together to present a viable rescue plan for Cyprus. In the light of this, Russia's rebuffing of Cypriot entreaties for help hardly comes as a surprise.

From Moscow, it looks like the German government is once again playing an inglorious role in international affairs. Germany is Russia's key political and economic partner in the EU, but over the last two years – and especially since the return of Vladimir Putin as Russian president – there has been an increasing alienation between Berlin and Moscow. In terms of political belief, there is little common ground between Angela Merkel and Putin – the good old times of "male bonding" between Schröder-Putin and Kohl-Yeltsin are long over. Merkel has been a much more critical partner to Moscow than her predecessors and Russia's poor human rights record is a common theme in German discourse on the country.

Last November, a resolution by the governing coalition of Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and Liberal Democrats in the German lower house emphasised the importance of civil society and rule of law in the relationship with Russia – a crucial milestone in German-Russian relations.

Merkel's stance stands in stark contrast to her predecessors. Three weeks ago, the leading German weekly Die Zeit started a debate on the lack of a balance between political values and political interests in German foreign policy. Many German politicians have been criticised for receiving Russian money to open doors to Russian business in Germany. As well as former chancellor Gerhard Schröder – who was nominated by Gazprom to head the shareholders' committee of Nord Stream, which aims to supply Russian gas directly to Germany – there is the former mayor of Hamburg Henning Voscherau, who lobbies for the Gazprom-led South Stream project.

As Die Zeit points out, even the respectable former minister of foreign affairs Hans-Dietrich Genscher has been rolling out the metaphorical red carpet for authoritarian regimes such as Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. As a result, the interplay between economic interests and democratic values will be a key issue in the election campaign for the German parliamentary elections in autumn this year. The leadership in Russia must knows it will see more of Merkel's cold shoulder in the coming months.