History
Diplomatic relations between the forerunners of the modern states of Germany and Russia date back to the early eighteenth century. The Tsardom of Russia, and following its formation in 1721, the Russian Empire, opened up diplomatic relations with many of the historic Germanic states. [4] With the formation of the German Empire in 1871, primarily under the auspicies of Prussia and under Kaiser Wilhelm I, the Russian envoy to Prussia, Pavel Ubri, was appointed the ambassador to the united German Empire. [5] Representation to many of the constituent Germanic states that joined the German Empire continued, with representatives often having the title of envoy or resident minister. With the outbreak of the First World War, which pitted the Russian and German empires against each other, representation to these states, and to the German Empire as a whole, was broken off. [4] [5]
The February Revolution in 1917 overthrew the Imperial monarchy, bringing the Russian Provisional Government to power, which continued the war with Germany. The Provisional Government was itself overthrown by the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution that year, subsequently establishing the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Negotiations were opened with Germany with a view to ending the war between the two countries, resulting in a commission led by Adolph Joffe which negotiated the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and Russia's withdrawal from the war in 1918. Joffe was then appointed diplomatic representative to Germany, until 5 November 1918, shortly before the end of the First World War, when he and his embassy were expelled for their agitation and support for the German revolution that was beginning to sweep the country. [6]
Relations between the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and what informally was the Weimar Republic, following the fall of the German Empire in 1918, were restored on 16 April 1922. [7] Nikolay Krestinsky was appointed diplomatic representative on 20 June 1922, at first representing the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and then from 23 July 1923, the newly-formed Soviet Union. Representation continued throughout the 1920s and 1930s, including during Adolf Hitler's rise to power and the establishment of the fascist government rule of Nazi Germany from 1933 onwards. Representation was briefly upgraded to ambassadorial exchanges on 9 May 1941, during the incumbency of Vladimir Dekanozov, but on 22 June 1941, Axis forces launched an invasion of the Soviet Union, and diplomatic relations were broken off. [7]
With the end of the war in 1945, allied forces occupied Germany, with Soviet forces present in large parts of Eastern Germany, which fell under the Soviet occupation zone in Germany, agreed under the terms of the Potsdam Agreement. Relations deteriorated between the allied powers, and on 7 October 1949, the German Democratic Republic was declared in the region of the Soviet occupation zone. It was a communist state, heavily influenced and supported by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union soon established official diplomatic relations with this new state, on 15 October 1949, with Georgy Pushkin appointed envoy on 16 October that year. [8] Relations were upgraded to embassy level on 19 September 1953, and thereafter representatives had the title of ambassador. [8] The Soviet Union was slower to establish relations with the state established in the other allied-occupied areas in 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany, but agreed to open relations on 13 September 1955, with the first ambassador Valerian Zorin, appointed on 27 November 1955. The Soviet Union continued to appoint representatives to both nations throughout most of the twentieth century. [9]
By the late 1980s and early 1990s, reforms and reorientation of foreign policy in the Soviet Union had begun to lead to the disintegration of both the Warsaw Pact alliances and the Soviet Union itself. The push for German reunification began to gather pace in 1989, and eventually culminated in the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic and its constituent territory being unified with the Federal Republic of Germany. The incumbent ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, Vladislav Terekhov [ ru ], was now the representative to a united Germany. [9] The collapse of communist governments in Eastern Europe presaged the fall of the dominance of the Soviet communist party, and the eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Terekhov continued in post as ambassador of Russia to Germany until 1997. [9]
At its height, the Russian Federation maintained its embassy in Berlin, as well as consulates-general in Bonn, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig, and Munich. Following the deterioration of relations in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia reduced the number of German diplomats allowed in Russia. Germany responded with a similar enforced reduction in Russian personal operating in Germany, and ordering the closure of four of the five consulates. [10] The Russian foreign ministry decided to retain the consulate-general in Bonn, while the remaining four were closed. [2]
