VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
Diplomatic relations between the USSR and the FRG were established September 13, 1955. Germany was the first among leading foreign states to recognize the Russian Federation as the legal successor to the former USSR on December 26, 1991.
The legal foundation of the relations is the Treaty on Goodneighbourly Relations, Partnership and Cooperation of November 9, 1990 and the Joint Statement of the President of the Russian Federation and the FRG Federal Chancellor of November 21, 1991. The Treaty on the Final Settlement with Germany of September 12, 1990 is another pivotal document.
Over the last decade and a half the two countries have resolved all the outstanding issues in bilateral relations remaining from Soviet times. Agreements were strictly honoured on the withdrawal of Russian troops from German territory (completed on August 31, 1994), the German-financed housing programme to accommodate the withdrawn troops in Russia (completed on October 9, 1996) and the retraining of discharged servicemen (completed on March 30, 2001). Agreements were signed on tending the military graves, German payment of compensation to the Russian victims of Nazi persecution (DM 400 million under bilateral agreements in 1993 and over DM 800 million under the multilateral agreement of July 17, 2000). The issue of the foreign trade deficit with the former USSR and the former GDR was finally settled.
Significant progress has been made towards historical reconciliation and confidence building between the two peoples. In 2001, history was made when the President of the Russian Federation and the German Federal Chancellor jointly laid wreaths at the Piskarevo Memorial Cemetery in St Petersburg (April) and the memorial to Soviet soldiers at Berlin's Tiergarten (September). The policy of reconciliation between the peoples of Russia and Germany was further developed during talks between Vladimir Putin and Chancellor Schroeder on May 9, 2005 during the celebration of the 60th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War in Moscow.
The political dialogue between the two countries is systemic and intensive: since 1998 annual bilateral consultations have been held at the summit level involving members of the Russian and German Governments (ten rounds have been held so far, the last in St Petersburg on October 2, 2008). Since June 2000 more than 40 summits, both bilateral and multilateral, have been held. Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel met six times in 2006, and five times in 2007.
During her working visit to Moscow in March 2008 Federal Chancellor Merkel held talks with Vladimir Putin and President-elect Dmitry Medvedev of Russia. In June 2008, Dmitry Medvedev visited Berlin where he continued talks with Angela Merkel and met the German President Horst Koehler. In 2008, the Federal Chancellor and the Russian President held bilateral meetings in Toyako in July as part of the G8 summit, in Sochi in August and in Washington in November on the fringes of the G20 summit.
There are regular contacts between the foreign ministers and the heads of other ministries and agencies.
Interparliamentary exchanges take place according to schedule. The Speaker of the State Duma visited Germany in 2001 and in 2007, and the President of the Bundestag visited Russia in 2003. In 2005, the Chairman of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov paid an official visit to Germany and the President of the German Bundesrat visited Russia. Between 2001 and 2007, the groups of friendship between the Federation Council and the Bundesrat of Germany held eight meetings. The corresponding committees and parliamentary parties of the Russian State Duma and the Bundestag continue to have regular exchanges.
The legal treaty basis of the relations spanning practically all the spheres of bilateral interaction is being steadily improved.
The links between the Russian regions and German lands are very important. The closest contacts with the German lands are maintained by Moscow, St Petersburg, the Novgorod, Saratov and Kaliningrad Regions, the Urals and the Krasnodar Territory. More than 100 pairs of Russian and German twin cities have been initiated (the 9th meeting of twin cities was held in Hamburg in June 2007).
Contacts and exchanges at the non-government level grow stronger. The 8th meeting of the Russian-German citizens' forum Petersburg Dialogue created at the initiative of the Russian President and the German Chancellor in 2001 was held in St Petersburg on October 2, 2008 as part of top-level interstate consultations.
Russia and Germany have a large arsenal of organisational instruments for coordinating and developing bilateral ties in various areas. In 2000, a high-level working group on economic and financial cooperation strategy issues was founded at the initiative of Vladimir Putin and Gerhard Schroeder (it held its 24th meeting in St Petersburg in October 2008). The Russian-German Chamber of Commerce representing the business interests of the two countries has been functioning in Moscow since December 2007. Other functioning bodies include the Intergovernmental Commission for Russian Germans, the Joint Scientific and Technical Cooperation Commission, the Joint Commission for the Study of the Recent History of Bilateral Relations, the Russian-German Youth Cooperation Council and various other joint organisations.
