Pressing Issues

A shadow hung over this year's Petersburg Dialogue: the very day on which the murdered journalist Anna Politovskaya was carried to her grave in Moscow, the discussions at the annual German-Russian expert forum were dominated by Russia's domestic situation.

The critical, independent journalist's murder as well as the ruthless actions against Georgian citizens in Moscow bring to mind pressing issues. They are issues regardless of the big business deals that a powerful, energy-rich state under the leadership of a thoroughly self-confident president hopes to make with Germany and Europe. Issues of basic values, of the way to deal with criticism and an independent press. The fact that these issues were at least raised at the Petersburg Dialogue in Dresden, that the participants discussed them openly and addressed controversial issues, marked the event.

Nor could the German chancellor avoid the delicate topics in her meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin: Angela Merkel demanded forcefully that the journalist's murder be investigated and solved. She couldn't have done -- or wanted to do -- more in public.

Vladimir Putin promised to do so. The fact that, at the same time, he tried to minimize the importance of Anna Politovskaya by describing her as an insignificant person with little influence in Russian society showed a particular sort of cynical contempt.

Certainly calling Putin a murderer -- as some demonstrators in Dresden did -- is exaggerated and unjustified. Still, with his policies he created the atmosphere of intimidation and fear that German and Russian journalists report about again and again. It is an atmosphere of disdain for values like freedom, independence of the press, plurality of opinions -- an atmosphere in which those who think differently become victims.

Even as economic cooperation between Germans and Russians is excellent, press freedom is and will remain a measure of democratization in Russia. The media is, sure enough, also the topic which consistently sparks arguments between the Russian and German sides. The critical western press is consistently declared one-sided by the authoritative representatives of the Kremlin. The Russian delegation at the Petersburg Dialogue also settled old scores with the German media, spoke of campaign journalism and rejected all criticism.

For the record: There is a Russia beyond Putin's power apparatus -- even though the Kremlin does all it can to exclude, bully and discriminate against those who champion human rights and basic rights. This Russia also needs a voice in a country like Germany; it deserves at least as much backing as the big German companies that want to do business in Russia.

The lack of sensitivity the Germans often show is exemplified by the shameful transaction in which Russian state monopoly Gazprom, in an apparent attempt to polish its tarnished image in the West, will become the main sponsor of German first league soccer club Schalke 04. In the future, the logo of the company that is to a large extent responsible for the limits to press freedom in Russia will bedeck the tops of German athletes.

The Russians are right to again and again demand respect and to stress they don't want to be told what to do by western smart-alecks on high. But reality shows that when it comes to dealing with civil and basic rights, Russia could still learn a lot from the West. The willingness to do so, however, is non-existent -- five years of the Petersburg Dialogue haven't been able to change that.

Criticism of Russia's democratic deficit, however, should not be left to a few brave contemporaries or individual groups. Representatives from the business community and society must let no occasion pass to make clear that a free press, a plurality of opinions and working conditions in which journalists need not fear for their lives are all part of modern democratic state. And not just in Moscow but also in the Russian countryside. To consistently bring up these issues remains a challenge for the entire spectrum of German-Russian relations.

Cornelia Rabitz is the head of DW-RADIO's Russian service (ncy)