This Is How the UK, France and Germany's Policies Toward Russia Differ

In an unprecedented action for decades, European countries united with the United States, despite the great differences between them, to stand against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, imposing wide packages of sanctions on Moscow.

The three traditional poles of Europe, Britain, France and Germany, are described as unprecedentedly unified in their scope and coordination against Russia. However, their goals and strategies on the continental and international arena differ and even conflict.

Despite this apparent unity, each country of the European trio, according to observers, adopts a special approach to this war, through which it tries to achieve the greatest amount of gains at the expense of the rest of the competitors.

Britain considers it an opportunity to distinguish itself and prove its strength, two years after its exit from the European Union. While France is progressing to consolidate its efforts to lead the old continent politically and militarily, Germany has found itself compelled to deal with it, to put an end to the historical restrictions that halt its influence.

Russian President Vladimir Putin thought that the atmosphere was ripe for realizing the dream of restoring his country's imperial influence again. In light of Germany's preoccupation with the phase of transition of power after the era of Angela Merkel, with France preparations for the presidential elections in the spring of 2022, and Britain with internal political problems, as well as America’s attempts to deter the rise of the Chinese dragon.

 

British Return

It is noted that even months before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Britain increased the intensity of its rhetoric against Russia, through the statement of its senior political and military officials, who all warned of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine.

With the start of the invasion, Britain adopted a tough approach against Russia and began sending planes loaded with lethal weapons and military equipment to Kyiv, in addition to military advisers to train the Ukrainian army.

The writer and political researcher Ayoub Errimi said that after Britain’s exit from the European Union, the government of Boris Johnson developed what it called a comprehensive review of defense and diplomatic policy, to enhance its position and influence, and considered Russia the biggest threat to its security and the security of Europe.

He added in an article on Al Jazeera Net on January 5, 2022, that both Putin and Johnson have political projects based on restoring the glories of the Soviet Union for the former and the British Empire for the latter, which means that the historical factor is strongly present in this conflict.

In reality, many events, according to Errimi, showed the extent of the stampede between the two parties, perhaps the most famous of which was the poisoning of the double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter with nerve gas in Britain in 2018.

The British government accused the Russian military intelligence of masterminding the attack, which then led to the outbreak of the worst diplomatic crisis between the West and Russia since the Cold War.

As for the last confrontations, in July 2021, in the Black Sea, the British aircraft carrier and a number of Russian ships fired warning shots near the aircraft carrier, claiming that the latter was violating Russian territorial waters.

 

Hard Puzzle

Moscow sees relations with London as one of the most difficult and complex on the international scene. As Britain does not want to retreat from its hostile positions and insists on continuing its conflict with Russia.

The Russian political analyst Leonid Alexandrovich commented on this situation by saying: "Russia does not want anything from Britain but to stop creating problems and stop granting asylum to fugitives from the Russian judiciary, and nothing more than that."

He continued in an article in Al-Bayan newspaper on January 20, 2011, that this matter had previously been stated by Putin when he said: "We do not want anything from them, they are the ones who want a lot from us."

Economically, the volume of trade exchange between Russia and Britain amounted to 23 billion dollars in 2020, an increase of 20 percent from the previous year, and Moscow provides only 5 percent of the gas consumed by London, according to the official British Broadcasting Corporation.

London is also one of the largest financial centers that receive Russian money, and this explains the British government's quickness to issue a number of sanctions against Russian businessmen in Britain.

In addition to its warning to the rich Russians, the British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, in early March 2022 said that the people with dirty money will be sued and the UK will not give them a chance to hide.

British writer Oliver Bullough said in an article in The Guardian newspaper in early March 2022, that the Russian Federal Statistics Service says that Russian investors own financial assets in the United Kingdom amounting to 3.5 billion dollars.

 

French Pragmatism

Unlike Britain, the government of French President Emmanuel Macron is following an approach that focuses exclusively on diplomacy to reduce tension in Ukraine and Europe in general, aware that it will pay a heavy price because of this crisis, while the relative beneficiary is America.

In addition to his participation in the sanctions, Macron expressed his intention to take advantage of all available diplomatic opportunities to reduce the escalation around Ukraine and preserve the security of Europe, expressing his conviction that these efforts should include sending firm warnings to Russia and expanding dialogue with it.

Macron is almost the only European leader to maintain open contact with Putin, at a time most of the world is shying away from due to the invasion of Ukraine, although the French president's diplomatic efforts failed to stop the war, but he did not give up.

The two presidents have spoken 4 times since Moscow attacked Ukraine, and more than 11 times during February 2022, prompting German international radio station Deutsche Welle to describe him as "Putin's distinguished interlocutor."

The radio explained this approach in a report dated March 8, 2022, that besides holding the rotating presidency of the European Union, the war in Ukraine dealt a severe blow to French interests in Russia.

It said, "Paris is the first European investor in Moscow, and more than 700 French companies, including 500 with French capital, operate in Russia and employ about 200,000 people. In 2020 alone, Paris' investments there amounted to about 20 billion euros, according to data from the French Central Bank."

The French oil giant Total is also one of the largest European companies investing in Russia, and the French car manufacturer Renault owns 69 percent of the Russian car giant AvtoVAZ.

France is the ninth largest supplier of agro-food products to Russia, with a value of 780 million euros annually, according to the French agro-industrial association ENA.

It added that France also has many other companies that lose hundreds of millions daily due to the continuing Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the sanctions imposed on Moscow, which makes the war bill very big for Paris.

In addition, France imports about 8 percent of Russian gas, which provides 24 percent of its needs, and it cannot provide an alternative to it in the short term.

 

Turning Point

At the beginning of the crisis between the West and Russia, Germany, represented by the government of the Social Democrats, close to the Russians, Olaf Scholz, adopted a cautious approach that avoids escalation and engaging in sanctions, especially as it takes its first steps after the end of the historic era of Merkel, in which she made her country a leader in Europe.

While the majority of Western countries were supplying the Ukrainians with lethal weapons to protect their country from more than 100,000 Russian soldiers massing on the border, the German government announced, on January 26, 2022, that it supported Kyiv with 5,000 military helmets, which sparked a wave of ridicule.

In the face of American and European criticism, Germany defended the controversial Nord Stream 2 project to transfer Russian gas to Germany and considered it an economic issue and should not be politicized or involved in the Ukraine file.

This was completely different after the invasion. At a remarkable turn in German military policy, Scholz announced, on February 27, the allocation of 100 billion euros to a special fund aimed at strengthening the defense system of his country's army.

Ignoring his socialist inclinations close to Russia, Scholz emphasized that Moscow's attack on Kyiv was the basis of a turning point in German foreign policy.

He called for the necessity of including the special fund for the army in the constitution, with a stipulation to increase defense spending by more than 2 percent of GDP, instead of about 1.5 percent.

A few days earlier, Scholz in a move that angered Russia, announced the suspension of the ratification of the Nord Stream 2 project, in response to Moscow's recognition of the two regions in eastern Ukraine.

Commenting on this transformation, Professor of International Relations at the Lebanese University, Laila Nicolas, said that the Ukrainian war changed the equations, as the German people, like other European peoples, feel today the security threat, so there is no internal or external opposition to changing the previous civil policy, which continued long decades.

In an article published by Al-Mayadeen TV website on March 6, 2022, the Professor explained that Germany agreed to bear heavy economic losses after stopping the Nord Stream 2 project, which was securing gas for it at prices five or six times lower than global market prices.

She continued, "The project was an important lever for Germany's growth and the well-being of its people, and it would have made it a center for gas being supplied to Europe."

She pointed out that in exchange for abandoning these two advantages, Germany obtained the main pillar of any country seeking regional hegemony and reaching the ranks of the major world countries: military power.