Germany Does Not See New Cold War, Says Up To Russia To Prevent This

BERLIN: The German government said today it did not believe that Russia and the West had entered a new Cold War and that it was in any case up to Moscow to prevent such a deterioration in relations.

"To people who talk about a Cold War or the danger of a Cold War, like Russian Prime Minister (Dmitry) Medvedev, all I can say is that this is definitely not the view of the German government," German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said. "One must say that it is in his hands to prevent such a situation."

Foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer added that there was no alternative to dialogue with Moscow against the backdrop of what he called "pretty intensive and difficult conflicts of interest" with Moscow.