About the case is written by the public portal ARD tv "Tagesschau" and the weekly magazine "Die Zeit". "The Petersburg Dialogue" was called in 2001 by Vladimir Putin and then Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. It was expected to be a platform supporting an agreement between Germany and Russia. Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the dialog was officially disbanded.
According to media reports, respective high-ranking German politicians from the SPD and the CDU seemingly worked to resume dialog at a secret gathering in Azerbaijan. In the last year, meetings were to take place 3 times: in April and October 2024, and most late on 13 April 2025.
Who was present in Baku?
The last gathering was attended by Ralf Stegner of the SPD, associate of the Bundestag and in the erstwhile parliamentary word a associate of the peculiar Services Supervisory Board. As Tagesschau writes, he was accompanied by a group of influential politicians. Among them were: Ronald Pofalla, erstwhile head of the Chancellery Office and head of the "Petersburg Dialogue", Matthias Platzeck, erstwhile Prime Minister of Brandenburg and president of the SPD, as well as president of the "Petersburg Dialogue, Stephan Holtoff-Pförtner, Minister of European Affairs under Armin Laschet in North Rhine-Westphalia, and Martin Hoffmann, long-time managing manager of the "Petersburg Dialogue".
Laschet – a candidate for the CDU Chancellor's position in 2021 was besides to be invited to the gathering in October. According to the media, however, he was not to attend the visit. As Taggesschau writes, no of the politicians asked denied that he was active in the gathering in Baku. Martin Hoffmann was to inform “on behalf of another people he contacted” that the gathering had a “private character” and was not organized or financed by public institutions," we read.
"Putin puppet"
W Baku German politicians met Putin's trustees. As a peculiarly "political explosion" of "Tagesschau", he acknowledges the fact that Wiktor Zubkow, erstwhile Russian Prime Minister and president of the Gazprom State Supervisory Board since 2008.
"For a long time, Zubkov led the “Petersburg Diologist” on the Russian side, and in Baku he was accompanied by Walerij Fadieev, head of the Putinian Human Rights Council. It is on the list of EU sanctions for spreading propaganda and misinformation in the course of the attack on Ukraine," the ARD tv portal informs.
When asked by “Tagesschau” about Sabine Fischer's comment, an expert on Russia at the Economics and Politics Foundation (SWP) in Berlin, she called Fadieev “the puppet of the imperialist government Putin”. As she added, a secret gathering with him and Zubkow undermines the tough policy of sanctions against Russia. “It sends a signal that there are inactive actors on the German side who want normalisation of relations with Russia despite the war against Ukraine, which violates global law,” said Fischer.
The main goal of the Russians during specified meetings is to open channels of influence on German politics.
Political consequences
The German abroad Ministry clearly denied that the gathering in Baku was organised or planned on behalf of the national Government. Explanations from Ralf Stegner, demands a CDU safety politician Roderich Kiesewetter. Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann of the FDP associate of the European Parliament, on the another hand, called for Stegner not to be re-nominated for the peculiar Services Control Group in the fresh Budestag.
Meanwhile, “there are rumors in political Berlin that Stegner intends to chair a committee controlling peculiar services in the fresh word of office,” says “Tagesschau”.
