DEEPENING CRISIS IN GERMANY’S RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA IN 2023–2024

Abstract

In 2023, Germany, in the context of the ongoing conflict around Ukraine, continued to follow the postulate formulated by Chancellor O. Scholz about a «change of eras» in relations with Russia. If in 2022 some stabilization was achieved in a number of areas, the next year was marked by a number of targeted steps by official Berlin, which led to a deepening of the crisis in bilateral relations. At the initiative of the German side, the expulsion of Russian diplomats was organized, followed by a mutual reduction in the number of consulates. The Russian Embassy in Berlin and its employees were subjected to unprecedented pressure from the German Foreign Ministry. The me- dia continued to put pressure on German companies, which continued to do business with Russian partners in the face of ever-increasing sanctions restrictions. Negative trends continued in January- February 2024. They were based on Berlin’s comprehensive support for the Kyiv regime. The au- thor analyzes the anti-Russian vector of German foreign policy and gives a forecast for the devel- opment of German-Russian relations in the coming years.

Keywords

• germany
• russia
• russian federation
• ukraine
• collective west
• german-russian rela- tions
• conflict
• crisis.