Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a ceremony ushering in new ambassadors of foreign states that “the current ‘frozen’ state of relations” between Germany and Russia is not Russia’s fault. “The current frozen state of relations with Russia—and I would like to emphasize that this was not our initiative—is not beneficial for you or us but, I think, it is primarily bad for Germany,” the Russian President said in his statement posted to the Kremlin website.
He recalled a beneficial period, when Russia and Germany had been developing “pragmatic, business-like cooperation” for more than half a century. “We managed to develop pragmatic business cooperation with the Federal Republic of Germany for more than half a century. This brought benefits to both states, and probably, not only to us but also to all of Europe. Importantly, energy was always a serious area for bilateral interaction. For decades, our country sent the Federal Republic of Germany ecologically clean natural gas, oil, and other energy-yielding materials at affordable prices and in a reliable, secure way. This cooperation was literally undermined, including by the subversive action at the Nord Stream pipeline.”
