After the elections to the Bundestag the German policy towards Ukraine will remain unchanged, German politician Andreas Umland told ForUm correspondent in exclusive comments.

"This is a historic election because the alliance of the Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union (Bavaria) came close to achieving an absolute majority in the Bundestag (only once reached in the 1950s, under Adenauer)," he said.

Also, according to the expert, it is notable that the Free Democratic Party is not in the Bundestag for the first time since 1949/ And the Left party, a successor organization of the East German communist Socialist Unity Party (SED), became the third largest faction in the Bundestag and seems to have thus established itself as a permanent part of the German party system (something not foreseen by many, some 15 years ago).

"I do not expect important changes in Germany's foreign policies - in spite of the fact that there will be a new Minister of Foreign Affairs. All parties are pro-EU and the possible coalition partners of the CDU/CSU, which will probably get the foreign ministry, do not have positions on Ukraine radically different from the FDP," Umland said.

"The one interesting thing to observe will be whether and how far the Russia policy of the SPD has changed, and how the probable new SPD foreign minister will be behaving in the dispute, between Russia and the EU, about Ukraine's future. Will the SPD continue the Schroeder tradition of German special relations with Russia, or take a more distanced or even critical stance towards the Kremlin? I would expect some discontinuity in as far as Russia's reputation in Germany has significantly decreased over the last four years. However, a statement by Peer Steinbrueck during the electoral campaign indicated continuity rather than change. Thus it remains open whether and how much Germany's Russia policy will change," he summed up.

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