Thus Der Spiegel today. “A political solution is more distant than ever in the Russia conflict, with the German government and EU having exhausted their diplomatic options,” elaborates the newspaper. “A rift may now be growing between Chancellor Merkel and her foreign minister over Berlin’s tough stance against Moscow.” Indeed, Frank-Walter Steinmaier, the German foreign minister, is ever more distant from Angela Merkel, his boss. To begin with, he understands the Russians. Last week he visited Sergei Lavrov, his Russian counterpart, in Moscow. Afterwards, Vladimir Putin also received him, a rare honor. Without mentioning Merkel by name, Steinmeier recently urged for a bit more restraint in public statements, saying the west had to be careful to make sure “that in our use of language in public, we do not eliminate our chances of contributing to the easing of tensions and to the mitigation of conflict.” Provoking the Russians is the wrong way forward, for sure. But it is clear by now that Germany is the only country in the European Union that can communicate with Russia on an equal footing, and that Berlin rather than Brussels is where the Union’s foreign policy is made. It remains to be seen whether Steinmaier will manage to persuade Merkel of the need for a softer approach with the Russians, though. In the end, everything revolves around Frau Europa herself.