# Lavrov Rejects German Call to Step Back, Invoking the Second World War in Rare Talks

Germany's foreign minister asked Moscow to abandon what he called a dangerous path of escalation toward Europe, and Russia's top diplomat answered by asking whether Berlin has learned the war's lessons.

- Published: 2026-09-27T05:23:00.914Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/2026-09-27/lavrov-rejects-german-call-to-step-back-invoking-the-second
- Publisher: Polylog (Global desk)
- Section: geopolitics
- Sources: [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/27/german-russian-foreign-ministers-hold-rare-talks-amid-rising-tensions), [The Hindu](https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/russias-top-diplomat-rejects-german-calls-to-ease-off-its-dangerous-escalation-toward-it/article71515190.ece</source)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his German counterpart Johann Wadephul met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, [a rare direct encounter between the two governments](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/27/german-russian-foreign-ministers-hold-rare-talks-amid-rising-tensions). Wadephul urged Moscow to abandon what he described as a dangerous path of escalation with Europe. Lavrov rejected the characterisation and responded with his own question during his General Assembly address, asking, "Does Berlin understand what this could lead to? Didn't they learn the lessons of World War II?" [according to The Hindu's account of his speech](https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/russias-top-diplomat-rejects-german-calls-to-ease-off-its-dangerous-escalation-toward-it/article71515190.ece).

Each side attributes the escalation to the other. Berlin points to drone incursions over European airspace and to Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure. Moscow points to German weapons transfers to Kyiv, to European rearmament programmes and to discussion of using frozen Russian assets. Neither government disputes that channels between them had been largely closed until this meeting.

That the two foreign ministers met at all is the notable fact. Germany is Europe's largest economy and the continent's largest single funder of Ukraine's defence after the United States, and its industrial base remains the most exposed in Europe to the loss of cheap Russian energy. Russia's economy is running on war production with an inflation problem of its own. Both have reasons to keep a line open and neither is offering a concession to justify using it.

## What this means

The mechanism is the risk premium on European assets and the fiscal path that follows from it. Direct Russian-German verbal escalation, even alongside a resumed channel, sustains pressure on Berlin to expand defence spending inside a budget that has already been loosened for that purpose, which competes with the industrial subsidies German manufacturers want. The exposed parties are German industrials and energy-intensive producers, European defence contractors on the receiving end of procurement, and holders of longer-dated Bund and other euro-area debt as issuance rises. Moscow wants Europe divided and negotiating separately from Washington, and reopening a channel with Berlin serves that aim at no cost. Berlin wants deterrence without a direct clash and has limited tools beyond spending and sanctions. The precedent is the 2021 to 2022 sequence, in which repeated ministerial contacts continued right up to the invasion and did not alter the trajectory. The likelier outcome over the coming months is continued rhetorical escalation with a functioning but unproductive diplomatic channel, and further increases in European defence budgets. A concrete de-escalation step, such as a verified halt to drone incursions over NATO states, would point the other way.

## What to watch

- Whether the Lavrov-Wadephul channel produces a second scheduled meeting, which would distinguish a working channel from a one-off encounter.
- The European Union's decision on using immobilised Russian central bank assets, the step Moscow has named as its sharpest grievance.
- Further drone incursions over European airspace and how NATO members respond, since a shootdown over a member state would change the legal picture.