MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Monday it would have to wait and see how ties between Russia and any new German government evolved after Sunday’s election victory for Friedrich Merz’s conservatives, saying there could be areas of cooperation of mutual interest.
Merz, 69, is set to become Germany’s next chancellor after his CDU/CSU bloc came in first place, with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) surging to a historic second place following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Schol’z three-way alliance.
Asked if Merz’s arrival would allow Russia and Germany to build a more constructive relationship like the one under former German chancellor Angela Merkel, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said:
“Each time (there’s a new government) we want to hope for a more sober approach to reality, for a more sober approach to what could be issues of mutual interest (between Russia and Germany), mutual benefits.
“But let’s see how it will be in reality.”
Russia supplied about 65% of the gas which powered German homes and industry before the start of Moscow’s war in Ukraine three years ago, according to the Brookings Institution, a U.S. think-tank.
Germany has dramatically reduced its dependency on Russian gas since then, and ties between the countries have since been further strained over Berlin’s military assistance to Ukraine.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
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