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No alternative to good relations between Russia, Germany — ambassador

"This terrible conflict in Ukraine casts a shadow upon the bilateral relations, but there is a wide range of topics and areas where we manage to cooperate," the diplomat said

MOSCOW, September 28. /TASS/. The situation in Ukraine affects relations between Russia and Germany, but Moscow and Berlin have lots of common areas for cooperation, Germany’s Ambassador to Russia Rudiger von Fritsch told a TASS news conference on Monday.

According to him, the German side pays a lot of attention to what is going on in Ukraine, and "that is the way it will be in the future as well." "One shouldn’t forget though that the German-Russian relations are much broader and richer. We know that our common history can be also a history of success," the ambassador noted. "There is no alternative to good German-Russian relations."

"It is clear that we have plenty of common interests, projects, both at the international and the bilateral level, which should be developed further," Rudiger von Fritsch said. He cited a nuclear deal with Iran as an example of successful cooperation.

"This terrible conflict in Ukraine casts a shadow upon the bilateral relations, but there is a wide range of topics and areas where we manage to cooperate," the diplomat said. "For example, the cross years of the Russian and German languages and literature were held, intensive contacts continue at the level of civil societies and scientific communities. We’ll be intensively working in all these areas."

Concerning the possible resumption of the St.Petersburg Dialogue German-Russian public forum, the ambassador drew attention to the fact that this forum "testified to special relations between Germany and Russia. "This format unites our countries, and it is in our interests to continue it in the future and to make sure it does not turn into a semi-official, government format and that the dialogue involves representatives of all sectors of civil society," the ambassador said. "I hope that we will be able to resume such meetings in the near future."