Photo credit: E. Samarin / mos.ru (CC BY 4.0)
The crisis in relations between Germany and Russia will result in serious consequences for Baden-Baden, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the Die Welt newspaper. The city, which has been a "place of attraction for Russians" for two centuries, is suffering losses due to the lack of Russian tourists.
A little more than 1,000 Russian citizens live in the small resort town, and the same number have dual citizenship. After the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, Russian flags began to be removed from public places, Russian names - from the menu of restaurants, although this process did not go smoothly everywhere, faced with opposition from the townspeople.
At the official level, local authorities suspended cooperation with Yalta and Sochi, and the concert hall began to cancel performances by Russians and even refused to cooperate with conductor Valery Gergiev, although it was he who saved the largest opera house in the country from bankruptcy 25 years ago.
The German press writes that the loss of wealthy Russian clients has been hard on the city's museums, hotels, shops, and healthcare system.
German politician René Loz called such a policy of the authorities terrible. According to him, such "ritual acts" will harm Baden-Baden itself. René Loz recalled that many Russians invested in the town when it was going through hard times. Journalists fear that the town will probably have to forget about good relations with the Russians in the foreseeable future.
Russkiy Mir
