Russian-German Talks

Putin and Merkel are set to meet in Dresden to continue the so-called Petersburg Dialogue. The yearly talks were initiated by Putin and then Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in 2001 as a forum for open discussion between their two countries. The meetings take place alternately in Dresden and St. Petersburg.

DW-RADIO: Will gas be the only issue on the agenda?

Alexander Rahr: Not everything can revolve around the gas issue, but the fact that Germany has organized the second energy summit (on Monday, involving experts on energy, energy company executives and lobby groups) in order to discusses the future of energy supplies to Germany and to Europe, where gas plays an important role -- and gas does come from Russia -- means that gas will be one of the main topics, but not the only one.

What kind of promises will Merkel want from Putin about the reliability of gas supplies?

Mrs. Merkel has already changed her attitude toward Russia. She is not conducting the same policy as Gerhard Schröder and Helmut Kohl. She does not want to rely only on Russia. She will do certain things in the next few years to diversify German and European dependencies on Russia.

I cannot exclude that Merkel won't move back to nuclear energy, although that would be very difficult in this coalition. But I think she is refocusing her attention from Russian gas to other alternatives.

What she wants mainly from Putin is that the countries between Germany and Russia, the so-called transit countries, will be bound into a common energy alliance and energy strategy, and I think she is also fighting for more German rights, or more rights for German companies on Russian territory.

At the same time, I think she wants Russia to fulfill international obligations and sign the energy charter in order to make energy transport from Russia to Europe more open and transparent, but I think this is out of the question today for Russia.

What other issues will be discussed?

Of course, the international situation will be discussed. North Korea has become a nuclear power. This means that this issue will be at the top of the agenda. Iran will be on the table, and of course the situation in Russia itself -- with the murder (on Saturday) of one of the most well-known Russian journalists in the country, Anna Politkovskaya, and the new German EU presidency and how it will deal with Russia.

How important are these Petersburg dialogues?

The Petersburg dialogues started five years ago and in the first few years, only politicians or the business community came. This year, things have changed, especially on the Russian side, which includes some human rights activists -- real human rights activists, not just those organized by the Kremlin. One can expect a really critical debate on many human and civil rights issues inside the Russian delegation. That is a novelty in these dialogues.

Alexander Rahr is an expert on Russia at the Berlin-based German Council on Foreign Relations.

Michael Lawton interviewed Alexander Rahr (als)