1. One of the strange features of #German-#Russian relations during the last 20 years was the physical contact of German politicians with #Putin & Co. To be sure, similar photographs of #VladimirPutin hugging Berlusconi, Modi, Macron, & other non-German leaders exist too. 
2. But the range of politicians on both sides who, over the years, went beyond diplomatic handshakes is surprising. One suspects continuation of a #KGB practice in these physical approaches from the Russian side.
@RusVerstehen @deruforum @russlandRU @TerekMedia @Konflikt_Sicher
@RusVerstehen @deruforum @russlandRU @TerekMedia @Konflikt_Sicher
3. Yet one wonders why various German politicians, like Matthias Platzek below, would allow or even initiate such embarrassing scenes with representatives of an authoritarian regime. Political instinct & expert advice should have warned German politicians against such encounters.
4. The signs were already on the wall when Putin was still Prime-Minister and not yet President. They included the Moscow Apartment Buidling Bombings, start of the Second Chechen War, or signing of the Russian-Belarusian Union Treaty during September-December 1999. @DGO_Berlin
@DGO_Berlin @ChefSteinmeier @DarthPutinKGB @Plaid_Lavrov @SergeViktorovi1 @Lavrov__Sergey @sergeylavrov 5. This should have let advisors to the German government to recommend their bosses strategic cautiousness rather than physical tenderness when meeting #Putin and his entourage. Only in 2021 did the hugging & caressing of German & Russian politicians come to an end (one hopes).
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
