The reason was that the Prosecutor General’s Office recognized three German non-governmental organizations that are participants of the forum as undesirable. The German side suspended bilateral contacts until the “critical issues” are resolved
Ronald Pofalla
The Board of the public forum “St. Petersburg Dialogue” on the German side decided to suspend all bilateral events and meetings of working Russian-German groups. This is reported on the forum’s website.
“We cannot agree that some of our member organizations in Russia cannot perform their work, because they are officially considered undesirable and in case of violation they face heavy fines,” said Ronald Pofalla, co-chairman of the forum from Germany.
He added that the Russian partners of “undesirable foreign organizations” can also be held accountable because of the cooperation. “Restrictions for organizations associated with inclusion in the list [undesirable on the territory of Russia] are a serious obstacle to dialogue with civil society in our countries and for this reason are unacceptable for us,” Pofalla believes.
He suggested that the Russian side hold a joint meeting of the management Board in early September to exchange views on topical issues on the agenda.
The German board of the forum, as noted in the message, believes that bilateral meetings and the main event of the St. Petersburg Dialogue this year can take place only if all organizations can participate without restrictions. “The bilateral activities of the St. Petersburg Dialogue will be suspended until critical issues related to the remaining restrictions for interested organizations are resolved,” the forum’s website says.
On May 26, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office recognized three German non-governmental organizations as undesirable in Russia. It was about the “Forum of Russian-speaking Europeans”, the Center of liberal Modernity “German-Russian exchange”. In this regard, Pofalla said that the joint meeting of the board, scheduled for June 8–9, will be canceled. He specified that all three organizations are participants of the “St. Petersburg Dialogue”.
At that time, the German board announced that the 19th St. Petersburg Dialogue, which is scheduled to take place on October 14 and 15 in Kaliningrad, will take place only if the above-mentioned organizations will be able to participate in it without hindrance.
The St. Petersburg Dialogue was established in 2001 on the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to deepen mutual understanding between the countries, as well as to deepen bilateral ties. A conference is held within the framework of the forum, and in parallel-intergovernmental consultations.
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