‘War debt’: is Germany too close to Russia for its allies’ comfort?

Clash over planned pipeline reignites concern over soft stance towards Moscow

Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin in 2020
(Image credit: Adam Berry/Getty Images)

Germany’s president has provoked anger in Ukraine by arguing that a planned Russian pipeline project should go ahead as Berlin owes Moscow a war debt after the atrocities of the Second World War.

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Joe Evans is the world news editor at TheWeek.co.uk. He joined the team in 2019 and held roles including deputy news editor and acting news editor before moving into his current position in early 2021. He is a regular panellist on The Week Unwrapped podcast, discussing politics and foreign affairs. 

Before joining The Week, he worked as a freelance journalist covering the UK and Ireland for German newspapers and magazines. A series of features on Brexit and the Irish border got him nominated for the Hostwriter Prize in 2019. Prior to settling down in London, he lived and worked in Cambodia, where he ran communications for a non-governmental organisation and worked as a journalist covering Southeast Asia. He has a master’s degree in journalism from City, University of London, and before that studied English Literature at the University of Manchester.