Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia’s relations with the rest of Europe could have developed differently in the 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

“Some of the hopes that I and, probably, the people of our country had at that time were justified, some were not,” Medvedev said in a Nov. 2 interview with German news magazine Der Speigel, according to a transcript provided by the Kremlin today.

“The main thing is that the dividing lines were overcome and that Europe, ultimately, was unified,” he said. “On the other hand, many questions connected with the fate of Europe, with relations between the Russian Federation and the European countries, in my opinion, could have developed along slightly different lines.”

Medvedev is scheduled to speak at the 20th anniversary celebrations in Berlin on Nov. 9.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Nicholson in Moscow at anicholson6@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 7, 2009 07:54 EST