Germany’s Ostpolitik in crisis: President Putin and Chancellor Merkel amid the Ukraine crisis
Journal: Calhoun: The Naval Postgraduate School Institutional Archive (Naval Postgraduate School)
Year: 2015

The Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 set off the worst crisis between Russia and the West since the 1980s. In the wake of this event, a reunified Germany has emerged as the key leader to engage Russia on behalf of the West. The Crimean episode shattered the 1975 Helsinki foundation for the peaceful inviolability of Europe’s existing borders. The shock of the Russian intervention in Ukraine and the Crimean annexation destroyed the illusion of the German Ostpolitik since 1969 of perpetual ente