In response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the SPD politician Matthias Platzeck is resigning from the chairmanship of the German-Russian Forum.
“I didn’t think the breach of international law and culture that the Russian President ordered with the attack on the neighboring country, Ukraine, was possible,” said the former Prime Minister of Brandenburg on Tuesday. “Countless people are suffering now, the world has become even more dangerous than before. I take responsibility for my misjudgment. I could have seen it clearer, should have seen it clearer.”
Platzeck, who was also SPD chairman from 2005 to 2006, has headed the German-Russian Forum on a voluntary basis since 2014. It wants to promote mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence between Germany and Russia.
There are also regular meetings, exchange projects, town twinning, young leader seminars and language competitions.
Platzeck wrote in his statement that he was guided by the conviction that close networking promotes mutual understanding, generates trust and makes peace more secure.
“That’s why I’ve campaigned on many occasions for more understanding for Russian perspectives, for security needs there.” He will announce at the forthcoming meeting of the forum that he can no longer be available as chairman.
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“The tasks of enabling cooperation between our civil societies, organizing exchanges, especially among young people, preventing alienation – as difficult as it is to imagine at the moment, these tasks remain,” Platzeck continued.
In Russia, too, many people do not agree with the attack on their neighboring country. “Giving these people platforms in the future will also be one of the tasks for the German-Russian Forum in the coming years.”