Publication

This paper looks at the Germany’s reaction to the 2013/14 crisis in Ukraine and Russia’s intervention in Crimea. It suggests Berlin has adopted a clearly critical stance on Russia, albeit through cautious diplomatic moves. For instance, it has given consent to limited sanctions on representatives of the Russian elite but disapproved economic sanctions. The authors believe that Berlin will take a range of actions to deescalate the conflict while avoiding wider sanctions which,they suggest, would mean economic losses for Germany and would also undermine the ideological foundations of the country’s relations with Russia.