Expert predicts that Germany will build a dialog with Russia on the basis of EU and US rhetoric

If Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU/CSU), which won the German elections, becomes chancellor, he will build a dialog with Russia depending on the political course of the Transatlantic community. Artem Sokolov, a researcher at the Center for European Studies of the Institute of International Studies of the MGIMO Institute of International Studies, told Izvestia on February 24.

The day before, Politico reported that if Merz becomes chancellor of Germany, his policy toward Russia will be tougher than that of incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz. At the same time, the leader of the CSU/CSU party said earlier that ties with Russia would have to be mended sooner or later.

"Friedrich Merz will build his foreign policy, including in the Russian direction, taking into account the foreign policy of the Transatlantic community. Now he will have to understand this changing vector during his conversation with the administration of [ US President] Donald Trump," Sokolov said.

According to him, the future of Russian-German relations under Merz will depend on how the FRG sees its position within the Transatlantic community.

"A certain role may also be played by requests from big German business, which is interested in cheap Russian energy carriers and opening the Russian market for itself. A certain role may also be played by the mood among German citizens, which is characterized by a high level of opposition, protest moods, including with regard to Berlin's foreign policy course," the expert admitted.

In addition, he emphasized that the statement about the need to establish contacts with Moscow was made during Merz's visit to the East German city of Halle, which was part of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). He said his remarks should be seen as a desire to win the support of East German voters, among whom constructive views on the issue of Russian-German relations prevail.

"If the conditions for moving away from the most conflicting, confrontational practices in Russian-German relations develop, then I think the new German government is quite capable of taking some steps to partially normalize Russian-German ties," Sokolov concluded.

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Parliamentary elections were held in Germany on February 23. The best result was shown by the CDU/CSU bloc with 28.6% of votes. Second place was taken by the AdG with 20.8%, the Social Democratic Party of incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz took third place with 16.4%. At the same time, the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the new party "Sarah Wagenknecht Union" (SSV) did not pass to the Bundestag. On February 24, Merz announced talks on forming a coalition with the Social Democratic Party.

Merz has repeatedly expressed support for Ukraine. In particular, he was in favor of sending Kiev long-range Taurus missiles.