Here is how Helmut Kohl is regarded by Russia intellectual elite:
"Kohl will be remembered in the history books as the German politician who scored the greatest success in the 20th century. He has been at power for 16 years. It was more than Adolf Hitler or Konrad Adenauer. Since 1871, when the united Germany appeared at the European map, there was only one man who ruled longer than Kohl — it was the “Iron Chancellor” Otto von Bismarck. Actually speaking, it is him who Helmut has been compared with — as long as both of them have unified the country. We may, of course, also recall the long-lasting leader of the GDR Erich Honecker, but — unlike Kohl and Bismarck — he had lost his country."
Helmut Kohl: unifier of Europe or the «Balkan butcher»? Part 1 | East+West Review Analytics Agency