ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on three aspects of Russia's policy toward Western Europe: the importance of Germany, security issues, and relations with the European Union (EU). The division of Germany into East and West was a reflection of the power vacuum that resulted in Europe after the defeat of Hitler's Germany in 1945. As Adrian Hyde-Price put it, East Germany was the "Jewel in the Crown" of the Soviet empire. With the reunification of Germany and the end of the bipolar power structure, the question of Germany's future is again uncertain. In an interview in Moscow News in December 1993, the German ambassador in Moscow referred to a "special relationship" between Russia and Germany. Germany has the greatest interest in future political and economic development in Russia, hence the pattern as in earlier periods of the twentieth century—Russia and Germany as the key players in the newly emerging power structure on the European continent—will likely prevail.
