Photo credit: karlherl / pixabay.com
The conference of the German-Russian Forum "Potsdam Meetings" started on Tuesday, May 18, RIA Novosti reports. This year the large-scale dialogue platform turns 25 years, the forum is being held for the 25th time. It was named “Partners in Difficult Times? Russia and Germany in the post-coronavirus era ”.
The Potsdam Meetings are annually held in cooperation with the Gorchakov Foundation and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, with the support of Accenture Deutschland GmbH.
In his video message to the forum participants, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called the current situation in bilateral relations between Berlin and Moscow the most serious over the past 30 years. He recalled the conflicts in the political sphere, which affect various sides. Among them are assessments of the situation on the border with Ukraine, the activity of the Russian special services, the position of civil society in Russia.
Nevertheless, Heiko Maas has no doubt that a way out of this difficult situation can only be found through dialogue.
In turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the Potsdam Meetings an authoritative platform for free discussions on current topics. He is confident that the pandemic has become a serious challenge for all of humanity. Its consequences will have a negative impact not only on the global economy and politics, but also on the daily life of ordinary people for a long time to come.
It is a pity, the head of Russian diplomacy noted, that the common misfortune did not bring the world community together. Sergei Lavrov agreed that relations between Russia and Germany are going through a difficult period. The minister recalled that representatives of the German management regularly criticize Russia, accusing it of being almost the main threat to security on the continent, increasingly putting forward completely absurd suspicions, and the Russophobic charge of some German media goes beyond all borders. As a result, the lack of trust is growing, the very foundation of the ties is falling apart, Lavrov stressed.
At the same time, the foreign minister assured, Moscow is not interested in confrontation. Russia will continue to defend its national interests in the future, but in relations with Germany stands for the formation of a positive agenda on the widest range of topics, the Minister of Foreign Affairs noted.
Russkiy Mir
