Not "friendship", but "strategic partnership"

[mahnmut]

Mrs Merkel spoke of a business-like partnership with Moscow

Merkel cools Berlin Moscow ties
Last week the White House, this week the Kremlin.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's meeting with President Vladmir Putin though went on much longer than planned, an indication perhaps that the two leaders are off to a good start in this new chapter of German/Russian relations.

The signs are that this relationship is going to be a much cooler, more business-like partnership compared with Mrs Merkel's predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, who developed a close relationship with Mr Putin.

Mrs Merkel is fluent in Russian having grown up behind the Iron Curtain in communist East Germany, an upbringing that may lead her to take a more sober approach to Mr Putin, who himself is a former KGB officer who served in East Germany. (FULL)

...Is Germany entering a new era in its relations with Russia? Certainly. But, what direction will their relations take, after the change of power in Germany? Some say Merkel will harm these relations, but the fact that Schroeder is going to manage the construction of the Northern Gas Pipeline shows the opposite: Germany is not only going to maintain close ties with Russia, but will continue to work for its own future energy security (ie., chosing the lesser evil than relying on the unstable Middle-East suppliers).
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