Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Russia should recognise Germany’s close relationship with the US.
“Russia knows that we have uniquely close relations with the United States,” he said. “We are a member of EU and Nato and we are acting together with our allies.”
Mr Steinmeier’s remarks during a trip to India last week reflect European concerns that Russia’s aggressive foreign policy is designed to divide Nato members.
The announcement by President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia’s first short-range missile deployment aimed at Western Europe the day after Barack Obama won the US presidency was interpreted by Berlin as a challenge to transatlantic relations.
“He has strong ambitions for the future development of Russia,” Mr Steinmeier said. “We had to criticise his misplaced statement to bring missiles into Kaliningrad. I think he made a mistake with that announcement that day.”
In a state of the nation address, Mr Medvedev said Russia would install missiles in Kaliningrad if the US did not “rethink” its plan for a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, to guard against attack from Iran.
Mr Steinmeier said western Europe was ready to embrace a new transatlantic relationship with Mr Obama.
He said: “There’s no other people with whom we have been linked in so many ways.”
President-Elect Barack Obama’s emphasis on a green revolution offer European countries an immediate opening to co-ordinate initiatives on climate change, energy security and the global fight for water, he said.
“These are issues that will no doubt have to be dealt with as items on the transatlantic agenda,” he said.
As with the outgoing Republican administration, it was security issues that provided the litmus test of a new relationship but the dynamic has changed in favour of warmer ties. Mr Steinmeier hoped to spearhead European overtures to Washington and has signalled German readiness to surmount domestic reservations over sending additional troops to Afghanistan.
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“I have met Barack Obama twice, and from those exchanges I know that he looks at Afghanistan in a very differentiated and a very wise way,” he said. “He is aware of the fact that we face a very difficult security situation, but he is also aware of the fact that military means alone cannot bring the necessary changes. We will only be successful if we succeed in helping rebuild the country and its economy, so civil reconstruction is the other important pillar of what we do there.”
Mr Steinmeier said that Germany was ready to make commitments in Afghanistan that were politically unpopular at home. “We’re increasing our troops by 30 per cent to 4,500. We’re responsible for radio surveillance across the whole of Afghanistan and aerial surveillance in the south [around] Kandahar,” he said.
“In addition, we took over the quick reaction force in the north – and let us not forget that circumstances there have changed, too, so it’s not fair to say the situation is calmer [in the north] than in the rest of the country.”
With federal elections in Germany less than a year away and more than 80 per cent of the public opposed to increasing the troop presence in the south, any decision will be fraught with political difficulties.
Russia is another rallying point as Berlin abandons its previous emollient stance towards the Kremlin in pursuit of a stronger European foreign policy. He said that Europe “needs to speak with a clear single voice in foreign policy, which is why we fought for the Lisbon Treaty – and why we still need it”.
“When Russia’s behaviour in the southern Caucasus turned to exaggeration and began to alter geographical realities and maps, Europe responded with one voice. This no doubt contributed to the military conflict ending.”
Mr Steinmeier cast doubt on predictions that Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, would return to his old office of president soon.
A looming decision on admitting Georgia and Ukraine to Nato was likely to provoke a further showdown with the Kremlin, Mr Steinmeier predicted.
Germany also stands ready to address the thorny task of shoring up Pakistan, which he described as a “country on the verge of economic collapse”.
“We have to strengthen Pakistan’s commitment to fight against terrorism,” said Mr Steinmeier. He lauded the emergence of the “group of friends” of Pakistan, including the US, Britain, China, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, dedicated to stabilising the country.