Germany – Russia: Dialog Returns
After “a pause for reflection” that lasted more than three years, the Russian-German Petersburg Dialogue forum is taking place
Baku, the capital of the Caucasus republic of Azerbaijan, which will host the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) from November 11 to 22, is taking on the role of mediator between Russia and the West. According to German Die Zeit newspaper and Tagesschau TV, two groups of “high-ranking representatives of politics, business, and public opinion from Russia and Germany will meet in Baku on Sunday, October 20, to discuss the current situation and prospects for the development of Russian-German cooperation.”
The talks between the Russian and German delegations will take place within the framework of the Petersburg Dialogue forum, launched in 2001 on the initiative of then German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin with the aim of “bringing German and Russian civil society closer together.”
As German media recall, “in 2021, the regular meetings of Petersburg Dialogue were closed after Russia’s decision to declare ‘non grata’ certain German organizations participating in the discussions.” After a “pause for reflection” that lasted more than three years, we are back to dialogue, and as Tagesschau emphasizes, the meeting has all the conditions to “become politically explosive,” as it will “undermine Germany’s official foreign policy,” which follows the US and NATO political line “aimed at the political and economic isolation of Russia.” Nevertheless, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “ready to talk to Vladimir Putin.”
According to rumors gathered by German media, former president of the Social Democratic Party and former prime minister of Brandenburg Matthias Platzeck, former head of the Federal Chancellery Ronald Pofalla, and former director general of the Petersburg Dialogue Martin Hoffmann are expected to attend the sensational meeting in the Azerbaijani capital. In addition, former Swiss Confederation ambassador to Berlin, Tim Guldimann, and director of the Geneva Center for Security Policy (GCSP), Thomas Greminger, are expected to attend the meeting. In a recent interview with the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Greminger emphasized the need for “formats of trustful dialogue” with Russia. The Geneva Center for Security Policy is one of the most respected think tanks in the world. According to the ranking by the China Humanities and Social Sciences Evaluation Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Geneva Center is ranked 24th among 359 think tanks in the world.