‘Who’s working at the other end?’ In December 1969, the cartoonist Fritz Behrendt emphasises the efforts being made by the German Chancellor, Willy Brandt, to establish new relations with the Soviet Union.

Am 20. Mai 1970, wird der zwischen Egon Bahr, Staatsskretär im Bundeskanzleramt, und Walentin Falin, Abteilungsleiter im sowjetischen Außenministerium, vereinbarte Entwurf für einen Vertrag zwischen beiden Staaten vorgelegt ("Bahr-Papier").

"Il est prêt à négocier !" Le 27 mai 1970, le caricaturiste Ernst Maria Lang ironise sur l'optimisme d'Egon Bahr, secrétaire d'État à la chancellerie, qui, de retour de Moscou avec le Bahr-Papier en poche, annonce au chancelier allemand Willy Brandt que l'Union soviétique est prête à entamer, dans le cadre de l'Ostpolitik, des négociations sur ses relations avec la République fédérale d'Allemagne (RFA).

On 9 August 1970, in anticipation of the imminent signature, in Moscow, of the Treaty between Germany and the Soviet Union, the West German Socialist Party (SPD) expresses its satisfaction at the new links being forged between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Soviet Union.

On 10 August 1970, Rainer Barzel, leader of the conservative political group CSU-CDU in the Bundestag, writes a letter to German Chancellor, Willy Brandt, criticising the Germano-Soviet Treaty.

On 11 August 1970, West German Foreign Minister, Walter Scheel, replies to questions from the press relating to the signature, the following day in Moscow, of the Germano-Soviet Treaty.

On 7 August 1970, the German Government sends notes to the US, French and British Ambassadors relating to the Germano-Soviet Treaty and to the country’s new Ostpolitik.

On 11 August 1970, the US, British and French Ambassadors in Bonn confirm reception of the note relating to the signature of the Germano-Soviet Treaty, sent to them four days earlier by the German Federal Government.

From 11 to 13 August 1970, German Chancellor, Willy Brandt, and his Foreign Minister, Walter Scheel, go on an official visit to the Soviet Union. Seated around the negotiating table (on the left, from left to right): Alekseï N. Kossyguine, President of the Soviet Council of Ministers, Andreï A. Gromyko, Soviet Foreign Minister, Semen K. Zarapkin, Soviet ambassador in Bonn, and Valentin Falin, Head of European Affairs at the Soviet Foreign Ministry. On the right., German Chancellor, Willy Brandt.

The Treaty between Germany and the USSR, signed in Moscow on 12 August 1970, launched German policy vis-à-vis Eastern Europe (Ostpolitik), paving the way for the normalisation of diplomatic relations and confirming the peaceful territorial status quo between the Soviet Union and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG).

In Moscow on 12 August 1972, the Federal Republic of Germany and the Soviet Union sign a Treaty by virtue of which both States formally recognise the geographical status quo in Europe.

On 12 August 1970, German Chancellor, Willy Brandt, makes a televised address to the German people in order to draw attention to the historic significance of the German-Soviet Treaty, signed the same day in Moscow.

On 12 August 1970, following the signing, on the same day, of the Treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Soviet Union, the French Foreign Ministry publishes a communiqué relating to a note from the West German Government on the status of the four powers in Germany.

In September 1970, the French monthly newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique outlines the implications of the Treaty of Moscow in which the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the USSR recognise the territorial status quo between Germany and Poland and between the FRG and the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

In his memoirs, the former German Chancellor, Willy Brandt, recalls the signature of the German-Soviet treaty on 12 August 1970 in Moscow. Under this treaty, the two countries recognised, in particular, the inviolable nature of borders in Europe.

In 1971, Walter Scheel, Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), analyses the importance of the treaties concluded the previous year by his country with the Soviet Union and Poland in the context of the FRG’s Ostpolitik.

Egon Bahr, a junior Minister in the Brandt Government and the leading proponent of the Ostpolitik, welcomes the signing of the Treaty of Moscow between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Soviet Union on 12 August 1970 and emphasises the fundamental importance of the Treaty for the two countries and for Europe as a whole.