On Sept. 14, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Berlin. He came to the German capital to take part in the closing ceremony of the Russian-German Cross Year of Regional and Municipal Partnerships. During his visit, Lavrov met with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas to discuss bilateral trade and energy issues, such as the construction of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline, as well as the Skripal poisoning case in England, the crisis in eastern Ukraine and the situation in Syria. On most of the discussed international issues both countries have different and sometimes totally opposite views. Relations between Moscow and Berlin have been seriously damaged since 2014 over the crisis in Ukraine followed by the sanctions Germany, along with other European nations and the United States, imposed on Russia.

Until now Germany may not have been more critical but certainly has been less public about its Syria policy than France and the UK. Recently, Berlin has raised its profile on the issue, calling for concerted global efforts to prevent chemical weapons from being used in Syria.

Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen urged a “credible deterrent” while Maas said diplomacy was the top priority to prevent the use of chemical weapons in Syria. At the same time, Chancellor Angela Merkel is under immense political pressure at home, with the latest polls suggesting 74% of Germans oppose potential military strikes on Syria similar to those launched by the coalition of the United States, the UK and France earlier this year. Such a context made the talks with Moscow all the more important.

During the meeting both Russian and German foreign ministers quite predictably paid a lot attention to the situation in Syria’s Idlib.