GERMANY PERSPECTIVE

The German press analyzes Russian economic stagnation with particular rigor, Germany having paid the highest price in Europe for severing energy ties with Moscow. Der Spiegel produces an exhaustive data-driven dossier: GDP growth at 1% at best, inflation 6.5-7%, key rate at 15%, oil revenues down 50%. The analysis is sober but the implicit conclusion is that Germany's energy Zeitenwende—weaning off Russian gas—was necessary even though it was costly.

The FAZ analyzes the impact on German companies still present in Russia and those that left the market. Die Zeit offers a deep reflection on 'manageable stagnation' versus 'collapse': Russia isn't collapsing but weakening structurally, making peace negotiations more complicated—a weakened but undefeated adversary is often more dangerous.

Deutsche Welle highlights implications for Russian regions, noting that regional budgets are thin and fiscal reserves exhausted, creating a risk of localized social tensions. German historical guilt toward Russia—Brandt's Ostpolitik, Merkel's Wandel durch Handel—is an omnipresent subtext: economic engagement with Moscow failed, and the current stagnation is partly the result of a policy Berlin long promoted.