About the German atom, Russian gas and freedom of speech

Deputies of the German Bundestag came to the editorial office of The New Times

The editorial office of The New Times was visited by a group of deputies of the German Bundestag, which included representatives of all factions except the “greens”: the head of the CDU/CSU faction Bernd Kaster, his faction colleagues Josef Rief and Michael Glos, the Social Democratic faction (SPD) was represented by Lars Klingbeil and Wolfgang Tiefensee, from the Free Democrats (FDP) - Lars Lindemann, and Johanna Voss - from the Left. At the request of the guests, the editor-in-chief of the magazine, Evgenia Albats, told them about the situation with freedom of speech in Russia, which is just around the corner with what our government calls “elections” and which in fact promises to be another special event, and most likely the most shameful one in a row similar in the entire 20-year history of post-Soviet Russia. Parliamentarians asked about the risks of journalists in Russia, including personal ones. We showed them a map of Russian regions published last year by The New Times: in 82 out of 86, beatings and murders of our colleagues are regularly committed.

We also had questions for the German guests: how is Germany going to solve the problem of dependence on Russian gas, especially considering Berlin’s decision to abandon nuclear energy and close all 17 German nuclear power plants by 2022? And what is more important for its elite - gas, which Russia is fabulously rich in, or human rights, with which things are far from good in modern Russia. For example, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who once called Vladimir Putin a “pure democrat,” has apparently already resolved this dilemma for himself. What about others? The answer was forcedly predictable: both are important...

Another pressing question for the German elite is what will happen to Greece, drowning in debt and now counting mainly on the generosity and solidarity of the “powerhouse of the EU” - Germany. As we understood from the answers, the Hellenes will not go bankrupt, no matter how much they ask for help. They won’t, because saving Greece is, in fact, a question of the future of the single European currency, the euro, which Germany itself once invented.

The meeting at The New Times editorial office took place in an atmosphere of mutual goodwill. Both sides expressed interest in further contacts.