A group of “influential Russians and Germans” will meet next Sunday, October 20, in the capital of Azerbaijan. They will have dinner together in one of the hotels in Baku and negotiations on bilateral cooperation are scheduled for Monday, October 21. The German media published such “sensational” details the day before.
The weekly Zeit points out that the secret meeting is being held under the official logo of the St. Petersburg Dialogue, which is considered to have been concluded many years ago.
“But, apparently, senior representatives of the Kremlin are still negotiating with influential Germans from the world of politics. “The meeting will be politically explosive as it will undermine official German foreign policy, which aims to politically isolate Russia.” – create the ARD television channel.
The St. Petersburg Dialogue was initiated in 2001 by the then Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schröder and the Russian leader Vladimir Putin; Its objective was to bring German and Russian civil society closer together. When Russia deemed the organizations participating in the dialogue in 2021 “undesirable,” the meetings were officially interrupted by Germany.
According to the program, the meeting in Baku will be attended by the former president of the SPD and the former prime minister of Brandenburg. Matthias Platzeckformer head of the Federal Chancellery Ronald Pofalla of the CDU and former head of the St. Petersburg Dialogue Martin Hoffman. Platzeck served on the board of directors of the Petersburg Dialogue for many years and Pofalla chaired it from 2015 to 2021.
Two Swiss are also mentioned as participants: the former Swiss ambassador to Berlin. Tim Guldimann and former Secretary General of the OSCE and current Director of the Geneva Center for Security Policy Thomas Greminger (The center is financed by the Swiss State).
“None of the non-Russian participants mentioned in the program confirmed their planned participation in the meeting. One of them clearly denies it when asked, some do not respond at all, others respond evasively.” – claim the German media.
However, in a recent interview with the Neue Zuricher Zeitung newspaper, Greminger drew attention to the need for “confidential dialogue formats” with Russia.
A member of the Bundestag and a foreign policy expert will also participate in the program. Armin Laschet. However, when asked by the media, Laschet’s assistant explained that the politician “will not participate in any negotiations in Baku.”
According to the program, one of the participants in the meeting will be the former Prime Minister of Russia. Victor Zubkov. Since 2008, he has been Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Gazprom. The president of the Presidential Council for Human Rights also appeared on the list of participants. Valery Fadeev. Special Representative of the President of Russia for Cultural Cooperation with Foreign Countries Mikhail Shvydkoialso mentioned in the program of the meeting in Baku, told German media that the negotiations in Baku, scheduled for October 20 and 21, will be informal, the participants will speak only on their own behalf and will not represent any institution, including the St. Petersburg Dialogue.
