German MPs are demanding an explanation from a senior member of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) in a parliamentary committee examining intelligence work after it emerged he had held secret discussions with confidants of the Russian president, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Ralf Stegner, a member of the Bundestag's parliamentary oversight committee, is among politicians from the SPD and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who took part in a meeting in Baku in April. Among those they met with on April 13 in the Azerbaijani capital were former Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, head of the Gazprom supervisory board, and Valery Fadeev, chairman of the EU-sanctioned Russian Human Rights Council.
The participants on both sides are former members of the "Petersburg Dialogue", a forum founded in 2001 by Russian President Vladimir Putin and then-German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. The forum was officially dissolved in 2021 following Russia's crackdown on several civil society organizations participating in it.
Four German participants - Stegner, Ronald Pofalla, who previously headed former Chancellor Angela Merkel's office, and two former regional ministers - confirmed in a statement to Reuters that they had been to the "private" event in Baku.
"Talking, even in difficult times of rising tensions, is a fundamental principle of good foreign policy," they wrote, adding that the "confidential" meeting was not secret and none of them were officially authorized to attend or paid for their attendance.
The meeting, first reported by ADR and Zeit newspaper, took place at a time when Russia's relations with the EU are frozen over its invasion of Ukraine. The meeting raised questions about the apparent willingness of some politicians to seek rapprochement with Russia even as Moscow wages war against a German ally.
In the case of Stegner, critics have also raised security concerns. Members of the parliamentary oversight committee have privileged, confidential access to the work of Germany's foreign and domestic security services, which are heavily involved in gathering intelligence related to Russia and the war.
"This is an unacceptable and irritating development that must be clarified immediately," Konstantin von Notz, chairman of the committee from the "Greens", told the magazine "Spiegel".
Roderich Kiesewetter, a member of the committee from the CDU, said that Stegner must give an explanation, and MEP Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann said that Stegner should not be nominated for a new term on the committee.
"People in such a key position must be above suspicion," she told newspapers from the "Funke" media group. "That's not the case with him."