“The relationship between Russia and the West resembles a shambles. The hope for a common European home that germinated after the fall of the Iron Curtain has been dashed 30 years later: Russia has once again become an enemy image,” is aptly stated at the beginning of Matthias Platzeck’s book “Wir brauchen eine neue Ostpolitik” (” We need a new Ostpolitik“). We want to take up this theme of new Eastern European Politics at the 2022 Peace Conference in Munich, question media reports, and reinforce a new, different narrative that sees Russia as a partner in our immediate neighborhood. Threatening Russia with nuclear weapons is not a realistic option.