Note from Berlin: Crisis diplomacy and the Russian-Ukrainian war

The surprise visits of the French President François Holland and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Kyiv and then Moscow in February 2015 to revive the stalled negotiations about a truce in the Donbass revealed as much about German domestic politics as it did about the complexity of dealing with a revanchist and revisionist Russia. Germany needs to square the circle between domestic demands for restraint and isolationism and the increasing burdens and responsibilities of European leadership. The issue seems even more complicated, as neither the political elite nor the country’s intelligentsia have a clear vision on how far Germany should go in both dimensions.

ESO: Background information: Merkel and Hollande bring peace plan to Kyiv and Moscow http://www.europeansources.info/record/merkel-and-hollande-bring-peace-plan-to-kyiv-and-moscow/

---