Probably a secret meeting between former German politicians and Kremlin confidants

They are supposed to come from Russia Time-Gazprom’s supervisory board chairman, Viktor Zubkov, and the Russian government’s human rights commissioner, Valery Fadeyev, said they took part in the meeting in the United Arab Emirates. Fadeyev has been sanctioned by the EU for war propaganda and is not allowed to enter the country.

According to the report, reciprocal visits were also discussed at the meeting. The plan is for Pofalla and Hoffmann to travel to Moscow at the beginning of December. In addition, Mikhail Schwydkoi, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s representative for international cultural relations, is scheduled to travel to Germany at the beginning of next year.

Foreign Minister Wadephul is said to have agreed

The German participants in the meeting are said to have explained to their Russian partners that Pofalla had visited the Foreign Ministry for this purpose and that Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) had given his consent to such a visit.

In response to an inquiry from “Zeit”, the German Foreign Ministry said that the federal government was committed to a more restrictive visa policy towards Russia within the EU. The Foreign Office left the question of whether Schwydkoi would be granted a visa to visit Germany open. Pofalla, Hoffmann and Platzeck have not yet responded to inquiries.

The meeting in Abu Dhabi would be at least the fourth meeting of this kind. The two sides had previously met several times in the Azerbaijani capital Baku.

Formally, the meetings are about the continuation of the Petersburg Dialogue. This was a German-Russian discussion forum that was founded in 2001 by then Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) and Putin. Politicians, entrepreneurs and intellectuals came together in Wiesbaden, Königswinter, Moscow and Saint Petersburg and debated Germany and Russia. In 2021, the federal government, still under the leadership of Angela Merkel (CDU), officially declared the Petersburg Dialogue to be over.