Speaking at the annual Russian-German forum "Petersburg Dialogue," Gorbachev said, "There will be no major changes in the relationship. Germans are also interested in maintaining [good] relations."
Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier that he expected the two nations to sustain their good relations after Angela Merkel takes over from Gerhard Schroeder as Federal Chancellor.
At his October meeting with former Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who had preceded Merkel as chair of Germany's Christian Democratic Union, Putin said he was pleased to see that Merkel "advocates the continuation of the Russia-Germany relationship's strategic character."
Meanwhile, Merkel described the Petersburg forum as an ongoing dialogue between members of the public, media and polity of Russia and Germany.
In a letter of greetings, read out by German Ambassador Jurgen Schmidt, she said that the two countries were standing on the same platform in the face of globalization, and promised to actively cooperate with Petersburg Dialogue in her new post.
