German senior politicians are secretly meeting with Russian statesmen in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku. This is revealed by journalists from the German weekly “Zeit” and the program of the public television ARD “Contrasti”.
German investigative journalists revealed that there will be a secret meeting of German and Russian politicians on October 20 in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku. They meet to have dinner together. Talks on German-Russian cooperation are scheduled for the next day. At least that’s what it says in the Russian program from the beginning of October, which bears the official logo of the “Petersburg Dialogue” and which the weekly “Zeit” and the political show “Contrasti” on TV A Air De revealed. The meeting is a political scandal as it contradicts Germany’s official foreign policy of political isolation of Russia.
None of the non-Russian participants mentioned in the program confirmed their planned participation in the meeting to Zeit and Contrasti. Some of them deny, others do not answer at all, others answer evasively. The “Petersburg Dialogue” was initiated in 2001 by then Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Russian President Vladimir Putin and aimed to bring German and Russian civil society closer together.
After Russia declared the organizations participating in the dialogue “undesirable” in 2021, the dialogue was officially terminated by Germany. According to the program, the meeting in Baku will be attended by Matthias Platczek, former chairman of the SPD and former Prime Minister of Brandenburg, Ronald Pofala (CDU), former head of the Federal Chancellery, and former managing director of the “Petersburg Dialogue” Martin Hoffmann. The name of the former chairman of the CDU and candidate for chancellor Armin Laschet is also visible in the list.
