Russian Relations

In Chancellor Angela Merkel's weekly podcast, she said that Germany and Russia had a "strategic partnership," and that despite many differences of opinion, the two countries also shared several common positions on topics.

Merkel and Russian president Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet Sunday on the sidelines of the Petersburg Dialogue in the western city of Wiesbaden. The conference began on Saturday, Oct. 13 and runs through Monday.

"I have already had many open, honest and very intensive conversations with President Putin and I am pleased that we will be able to do this again," she said.

She said their discussions on Sunday evening would primarily focus on bilateral issues and the relationship between the two countries, but she added that the two would also talk about the situation in Iran and the future of Kosovo, along with US plans for a missile defense system based in eastern Europe, which Moscow opposes.

On Monday, she and Putin will participate in a forum on the closing day of the event, where representatives from the civil societies of both countries will gather. Merkel said such a meeting highlighted the importance of the Petersberg Dialogue, since "only through exchanges among all groups in our societies can we create strong relationships with one another."

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev will take part in the dialogue in his capacity as co-chairman of the forum.

The Petersburg Dialogue is an regular Russian-German conference that set up by Putin and previous Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in 2001 to bring the Russian and German societies closer together.

Greens' concerns

The German Greens have called on the government not to stay silent on the issue of Russia's democratic deficit. The human rights spokesperson of the party, Volker Beck, told Chancellor Merkel on Saturday that she should warn Putin about "bending the Russian constitution."

He said Kremlin plans to keep Putin in power constitute a "renewed, grave step backwards for democracy in Russia" and that before elections on Dec. 2, a changing of positions could take place that could lead to Putin again being president of the Russian Federation within a few months.

Putin announced recently that he will lead the slate of candidates for his party, United Russia, in Duma elections in December and has hinted that he might eventually become Russia’s prime minister in order to complete the political transformation he launched eight years ago.

This "pseudo-legal putsch," according to Beck, might satisfy strict legal requirements of the constitution, which says a head of state cannot run for office for a third term. But Putin's plan to bend Russian law to his will, without breaking it, amounts to a "violence-free coup against the constitution."

There are concerns that Putin might use his party's likely constitutional majority of 300 seats in the Duma to push forward constitutional changes that would reshape Russia’s political system as a parliamentary-presidential republic. Then the center of power would shift from the presidency to the prime minister’s office.

Or, even if Putin did not tinker with the constitution, he could simply become Russia's de facto leader as prime minister.