German politicians call for the preservation of the "Petersburg Dialogue" | News from Germany about Germany

A few days after the RF Supreme Court ruled to liquidate one of the country’s oldest non-governmental organizations – International Memorial – German politicians on Friday, December 31, called for further contacts with Russia within the framework of the Petersburg Dialogue. In particular, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) foreign policy expert Johann Wadephul, who is a board member of St. Petersburg dialogue “.

“The threat of war is great. The more important it is to find the right balance between toughness and willingness to negotiate,” he said in an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt, commenting on the situation on the Ukrainian border.

In turn, Ralf Stegner, a foreign policy expert of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), believes that it is politically expedient to ease tensions through diplomatic means. “Every platform for dialogue matters,” he told Die Welt.

Meanwhile, foreign policy expert of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, told the publication: The Petersburg Dialogue has been suspended and should remain so. However, the complete cancellation of (forum – Ed.) does not make sense. “

Suspension of meetings of the “Petersburg Dialogue”

In July, the German organizing committee of the Petersburg Dialogue announced the suspension of all bilateral events and meetings of the German-Russian working groups for an indefinite period. According to Ronald Pofalla, co-chair of the forum from the German side, the reason for this step was the decision of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office to declare three German non-governmental organizations “undesirable” in Russia – Deutsch-Russischer Austausch eV (“German-Russian Exchange”), Zentrum Liberale Moderne GmbH (“Center for Liberal Modernity”), as well as Forum Russischsprachiger Europäer eV (“Forum of Russian-Speaking Europeans”).

Banning Memorial in Russia

On December 28, the Russian Armed Forces decided to ban the International Memorial at the request of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office. The department, in its claim to the court, argued that the society allegedly repeatedly violated the laws, and was also engaged in political activities with the aim of influencing government decisions and shaping public opinion. The next day, the Moscow City Court ruled to liquidate the Memorial Human Rights Center.

The International Memorial verdict caused a huge resonance not only within Russia, but also in the international arena. The German government condemned the actions of the Russian authorities as contradicting international obligations to protect fundamental civil rights.

“Petersburg Dialogue” has existed since 2001

The Petersburg Dialogue conference of the forum of civil societies of Russia and Germany, initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin and then German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, has been held annually since 2001. The exception was 2014, when the forum was canceled due to the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.

The last time the event took place was in 2019. In 2020, the Petersburg Dialogue was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the next forum was to be held on October 14-15, 2021 in Kaliningrad. The main goal of the forum is to deepen mutual understanding between the two countries, further develop cooperation and ties between Germany and Russia.

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