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ABSTRACT: How can we understand German-Russian relations since German reunification? Both the geopolitical positions of the two states and the political and economic ties between them have been transformed over the past twenty-five years. This paper will argue, however, that the role of the two countries' leaders in shaping these relations has been surprisingly important. Building on the tradition of "first image" analysis in international relations, this paper shows that, along with larger political and economic trends, personal relations between these leaders have helped to set the tenor of bilateral ties. When the leaders were able to build trust and personal friendships, relations improved. Yet more recently, since 2012, relations have soured sharply. While there are obviously larger reasons for this, more negative personal ties between leaders have also played an important role. In short, just as issues of trust and friendship matter in personal ties, they also matter in International Relations.
KEYWORDS Angela Merkel, Boris Yeltsin, foreign policy, Gerhard Schröder, Germany, Helmut Kohl, Russia, Vladimir Putin
Continuity and Change in German-Russian Relations
A time traveler from 1989 would hardly recognize today's Russia-or today's Germany. Thus, it should surprise no one that German-Russian relations have also been transformed in this period. This is not to say that everything has changed: the countries' rich history-of both conflict and cooperation-still plays an important role in shaping the present. As we shall see, that is true in many areas, from politics and economics to the personal ties between the countries' leaders.
Some countries have very negative historical ties. German-Polish relations, for example, have rarely been positive in the past; as a popular Polish phrase puts it "as long as the world is the world, Poles and Germans will never be brothers."1 Germany and Russia, though, have a much more complex history. In many periods, they were quite close, even allies, while in others they reached a level of hatred seldom seen between two peoples. As Celeste Wallander put it in her 1999 book, the two states have long been "mortal friends and best enemies."2 This description could fit relations between the two states' leaders as well.
In particular, the legacy of World War II still scars bilateral ties. As the recent trial of a ninety-four year-old Auschwitz...