On Thursday, 10 days before Germany’s federal elections, President Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, will visit his friend Gerhard Schröder, the chancellor, in Berlin. They will give their blessing to a project of strategic importance, underlining the emerging energy alliance between their countries.

A document will be signed between Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned energy giant, and German companies to build a gas pipeline across the Baltic from St Petersburg to Greifswald in eastern Germany to supply gas to western Europe. The deal faces strong criticism from Poland, which finds its territory bypassed at Russia’s insistence.