More recently, the German Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Zigmar Gabriel had to explain what exactly was discussed at a dinner with Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Federal Chancellor, the candidate for the post of Rosneft's board chairman Gerhard Schroeder. According to Gabriel, at the dinner only issues related to the national interests of Germany were discussed, and he adhered to the common European position on the issue of sanctions.

However, the new statements of the head of the German foreign policy department suggest that at the dinner they spoke not about the national interests of Germany, but about the national interests of Russia. Or rather - about the personal interests of Vladimir Putin. Because "exchanging" the lifting of sanctions to stop shelling in the Donbas - but at the same time to retain control over the occupied territories - is probably Putin's long-standing dream. Until recently, there were no doubts: it would be possible to lift sanctions against Russia only after full implementation of the Minsk Agreements. Moreover, Moscow's unwillingness to fulfill these agreements was not only the reason, but also an excuse for pressure on the Kremlin in order to force Putin to change his aggressive foreign policy. There are simply no other levers for influencing the Russian president.

And so Gabriel suggests giving these levers into the hands of Putin himself, "rewarding" him for not killing Ukrainians, legitimizing the occupation of foreign territories! Good dinner! Yesterday the leader of German liberals Christian Lindner proposed to "forget" about the Crimea, today Gabriel suggests "forgetting" about Donbass. It's terrible even to imagine how all these people will agree before the end of the German election campaign.

It is possible, however, that Gabriel is just in a hurry. Whatever the results of the German parliamentary elections, he is unlikely to remain Germany's foreign minister. If the Social Democrats re-enter the government as part of a "big coalition", the post of head of the German foreign ministry will get the candidate of the SPD for the post of Chancellor Martin Schulz, who treats Putin quite differently from Gabriel. But if the Social Democrats are lucky enough to create their own coalition, then the post of the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will depart to the leader of the smaller coalition party.

And, it seems, Gabriel wants to have time to say all that he really thinks - in case he does not remain a minister.

And the fact that his thoughts do not coincide with European values ??and German interests - it does not matter. The predecessor Gabriel as leader of the Social Democrats and participant in the notorious Schroeder dinner, they also did not always coincide. And as a result, he gets a profitable place in Rosneft - everything is better than being a principled German politician.

Original.