BERLIN — "What do you want us to say," President Vladimir Putin of Russia asked Friday after his fourth meeting in three days with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany, "that we're in love?"
He was joking, of course. But there was no mistake that the summit meeting that ended Friday produced a vigorous rapprochement between Russia and Germany. Putin seemed entirely serious when he added, "Germany is Russia's leading partner in Europe and the world."
The meeting led to agreements on German investments in Russia worth $1.7 billion, cautious German backing for a Russian plan to involve itself in the defense of Europe against missile attack, and the establishment of an apparently excellent rapport between Putin and Schroeder.
This easy understanding is in marked contrast to the sometimes awkward relationship between Schroeder and President Clinton. But a Foreign Ministry official who attended several of the meetings added: "There is no equidistance in the German-Russian and German-American relationships. We are intimate with the United States; with Russia we are still trying to create a benign and stable power to the east."
Still, the sudden closeness of Berlin and Moscow is certain to cause some concern among Germany's European partners, which are always worried that Europe's central power may again seek its fortunes to the east.
In many respects, Germany appeared closer to Russia than to the United States on the question of missile defense. Schroeder said Friday that a proposal by Putin to place Russia at the heart of a European missile defense system from the Atlantic to the Urals "deserves thorough consideration and should be discussed both in the NATO-Russia Council and through bilateral relations."
The chancellor has been much cooler on the U.S. proposal for a national missile defense system. He has warned that it must not be allowed to lead to a new arms race or undo existing agreements, including the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 that Clinton wants Russia to agree to amend.
Russia is proposing the use of "theater" anti-missile systems allowed under the 1972 treaty to shoot down short- and medium-range missiles that threaten Europe. The United States is deeply skeptical of both the feasibility and the desirability of the idea.