Germans are going to the polls on Sunday for national elections. Opinion polls suggest the outcome will be a new chancellor and, likely, a new governing coalition.

The Sunday vote comes amid an economy in the doldrums, big questions over Europe's security posture, and a surging far-right.

Germany’s European neighbours are still friends and partners, even if political trends in France, Austria and parts of central and eastern Europe give rise to concern in Berlin. But far more worrying is the antagonism of Vladimir Putin’s Russia and,