The Forum for Dialogue between Germany and Russia has closed

The St. Petersburg Dialogue Civil Society Forum, founded in 2001 to deepen mutual understanding between Germany and Russia, has approved the liquidation procedure.

The Forum announced this decision on April 20.

Photo: SCHROEDER meets PUTIN, Credit: GETTY IMAGES

The decision to liquidate the St. Petersburg Dialogue was made by its General Assembly. “32 participants voted in favor, five voted against, and one abstained.

“The association is currently in the process of liquidation and will be dissolved under the requirements of the law,” the statement said.

In November 2022, at the request of the Board of the Petersburg Dialogue, its General Assembly decided to dissolve itself in the first quarter of 2023 as part of an extraordinary General Assembly and instructed the Board to take the necessary steps, according to Spiegel.

“Given the criminal war of aggression and the frontline position against Western democracies, dialogue in this format is no longer possible,” the St. Petersburg Dialogue press release emphasizes.

The forum was founded in 2001 by Russian President Vladimir Putin and then-German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to promote exchange between civil society and the media on the German and Russian sides.

As part of the St. Petersburg Dialogue, journalists, diplomats, academics, artists, business representatives, and politicians from different parties met annually in Germany or Russia. The last forum was held in 2019 in Bonn.

In 2020, the St. Petersburg Dialogue meetings were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. After the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the outbreak of a full-scale war in Ukraine, they were not held at all.

Moscow often uses bilateral initiatives with other states to promote its foreign policy position, economic interests, and narratives. After the strong condemnation of Russia’s criminal war against Ukraine, such organizations have no choice but to cease their activities.