Russia has “effectively severed its partnership” with Europe and wants to establish a new order, German President Joachim Gauck said Monday. “We want partnership and good neighbourly relations (with Russia)” but on the condition that Moscow changes its policies and that there is a “return to respect for the rights of nations”, Gauck said at a ceremony in Gdansk to mark the 75th anniversary of Germany’s invasion of Poland that set off World War II. Evoking the “miracle” of post-war reconciliation between Germans and Poles, Gauck said he was disappointed with the turn of events in Russia. “We believed and wanted to believe that Russia too, the country of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, could be part of Europe.” “It was a shock when we were confronted with a new conflict on Europe’s borders.