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 After the girl's claims were reported by Russian media in January,
Lavrov accused Germany of "sweeping problems under the rug." The
Berlin public prosecutor's office, though, said a medical
examination had found the girl had not been raped.
That was why Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was
so upset when Lavrov raised the issue again. "I can only hope that
such incidents and difficulties, as we had in that case, aren't
repeated," he told reporters afterwards.
The rape case is indicative of the mutual suspicion that officials
from both countries say extends to the highest levels of government.
At the root of those tensions lie opposing visions for Europe and
the Middle East. Those rival visions have led to clashes at
diplomatic negotiating tables, in cyberspace and in the media.
German and other European security officials accuse Russian media of
launching what they call an "information war" against Germany. By
twisting the truth in reports on Germany's migrant crisis, the
officials say, Russia hopes to fuel popular angst, weaken voters'
trust in Chancellor Angela Merkel, and feed divisions in the
European Union so that it drops sanctions against Moscow.
"Russian propaganda is a danger to the cohesion of our society," Ole
Schroeder, German deputy interior minister and a member of Merkel's
conservatives, told Reuters.
Russian officials deny their country is mounting a campaign against
Germany. "These accusations are atrocious," said one Russian
official, who said Moscow is the victim of an "indiscriminate
information war" being waged from Germany.
In February, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President
Vladimir Putin, denied the Kremlin had exploited the rape case to
stir up tensions around immigration in Germany.
"We cannot agree with such accusations," Peskov said. "On the
contrary, we were keen that our position be understood, we were
talking about a citizen of the Russian Federation. Any country
expresses its concerns (in such cases). It would be wrong to look
for any hidden agenda."
But officials in Berlin say Russia's aim is to muddy what is true
and what is not and shake Germans' trust in Merkel. "The idea today
is to get disinformation, which means you don't believe anything,"
Hans-Peter Hinrichsen, a Foreign Ministry official, told a recent
meeting on Russia's role in Europe at the German Council on Foreign
Relations (DGAP).
German and European officials say Russia's aim is two-fold: To
exaggerate the problems the migrant crisis is causing Germany and to
push Germany to relax its backing for European sanctions on Russia
over Moscow's interference in Ukraine. While EU governments last
month extended asset freezes and travel bans on Russians and Russian
companies, there is less consensus on whether to prolong more
far-reaching sanctions on Russia's banking, defence and energy
sectors from July.
Both sides agree on one point: relations between the two countries
are at their lowest point since the early days of the Cold War.
BIKINI TROLLS?
Beginning in the late 1960s, the then West Germany pursued a policy
of 'Ostpolitik', which encouraged warmer ties with Russia. After the
collapse of the Soviet Union, the two countries grew even closer
thanks to trade and cultural ties. But those ties began unraveling
when Vladimir Putin returned as Russian president in 2012, and
worsened further after the Ukraine crisis began in late 2013.
 "All the networks, all the personal ties – they just don't work
anymore," said Stefan Meister, at the DGAP.
The accusations of disinformation have spawned a whole new
vocabulary. Officials at NATO now talk about the 'weaponization of
information' by Russia. Colonel Aivar Jaeski, deputy director at the
NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, says Russia's
campaign against Europe uses "angry trolls" who produce online hate
speech, and "bikini trolls" to lure followers and then sow discord
and doubt about news events.
Jaeski pointed to a NATO StratCom report on trolling, which says the
Guardian newspaper's online edition was targeted "in a troll attack
that is considered to have been ordered by the Kremlin" over its
reporting on the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over
Ukraine.
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The Kremlin has repeatedly denied funding or backing online trolls,
and has specifically denied any connection with a company based in
St Petersburg whose ex-employees have said they were paid to spread
disinformation, praise Putin and criticize the West.
A GERMAN CAMPAIGN?
In the rape case, Russian media reported the German-Russian girl –
under German law she can only be identified as Lisa F. – had been
abducted by 'Arab-looking men' and raped repeatedly over a 30-hour
period. Janis Sarts, director of the NATO Strategic Communications
Centre of Excellence, said Russian media continued to report that
even after the Berlin authorities said the girl had not been raped.
Europe's East StratCom Task Force has collected dozens of examples
of Russian reporting on the migrant crisis that it says are clear
cases of deliberate disinformation.
German daily Bild reported in March that Germany's foreign and
domestic intelligence agencies were warning of increasing Russian
interference in German politics.
Moscow rejects the idea of any coordinated campaign. One Russian
official said there was a German media campaign to paint Russia in a
bad light and "demonize" it. The official said that Russian media
had formerly been too positive about Germany and were now more
objective. "This ends the discrepancy that saw the German media be
very critical of Russia and the Russian media paint a very favorable
picture of Germany," he said.
BLACK BOX
At the March 23 meeting, the two countries reached an "academic
cooperation accord." Both sides also continue to emphasize cultural
ties.
But repairing political ties may be harder. Germany's Social
Democratic Party (SPD) – junior members in Merkel's ruling coalition
and the party behind "Ostpolitik" all those decades ago – seems
increasingly ready to compromise with Moscow. Sigmar Gabriel, an SDP
member and Germany's Economy Minister, said recently that the EU
should try to lift sanctions on Russia by this summer.
Merkel, though, has refused to ease the sanctions, insisting that
Russia first needs to comply with an agreement to enforce a
ceasefire, pull back heavy weapons, exchange prisoners, and hold
internationally monitored local elections in eastern Ukraine.
German officials say Merkel speaks to Putin more than any other
Western leader and recognizes better than most that the Russian
leader respects firmness.
But the governments still struggle to understand each other.
"The Kremlin is like a Black Box: we have a rough idea of who sits
in the Black Box but we have no idea what they are thinking, what
they are worried about, what they are thinking for 5-10 years'
time," a senior German official said.
(Additional reporting by Sabine Siebold in Berlin, Robin Emmott in
Brussels and Andrew Osborne in Moscow; Edited by Simon Robinson)
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