When Angela Merkel, German chancellor, visited Tbilisi on Sunday, she told a press conference with Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian president: "If it wants to, Georgia will become a member of Nato."

The comment was widely interpreted as signalling a U-turn in German foreign policy - wrongly so, it turns out. Despite the kind words and Ms Merkel's demand, two days earlier, that Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, pull his troops out of Georgia, Germany has no intention of abandoning it policy of engagement with Moscow.