STUDY Twenty Years of German-Russian Relations through the Prism of the Schlangenbad Talks EVGENIYA BAKALOVA AND VERA ROGOVA July 2017 n The German-Russian Schlangenbad Talks, organized annually since 1998, have be­come a reliable trend indicator of the current state of Western-Russian relations. The study provides a differentiated picture of the past twenty years of discussions, cap­turing specific trends and argumentation patterns between the German and Russian political and academic elites. n In the last two decades multiple crises and conflicts have been traditionally followed by periods of cooperation and rapprochement. Yet the Ukraine crisis seemed to have interrupted this trend. While the eruptive crises in recent years were quite visible on the surface, there was also a not-so-apparent underlying trend towards alienation on both sides. In this sense, the Ukraine crisis could be interpreted as a culmination of previously unresolved tensions and deep-rooted disagreements. n In view of the early hopes for a common»European house« on the basis of shared values, the disillusionment on both sides was all the deeper. While the German side harbored growing concerns about Russia's anti-democratic drift, ever increasing criticism produced feelings of exclusion and marginalization on the Russian side and reinforced the sense of geopolitical competition. n Further complicating the exchange were the differing views upon the practical con­figuration of German-Russian cooperation. While the German side favored all-en­compassing institutional solutions, the Russian side criticized this approach as unpro­ductive, since the perceived overconcentration on human rights and internal political developments supposedly prevented cooperation in areas of vital interests. Yet limit­ed pragmatic cooperation void of any normative basis would also be problematic, be­cause it would lack any strategic orientation beyond short-term and singular pay-offs.