On an official unfriendly visit

Vladimir Putin arrived in Germany for a two-day visit. There, the Russian president will face protests and a difficult conversation with Chancellor Angela Merkel. In fact, according to the plan, Merkel and Putin are supposed to discuss the economy, but Merkel is expected to start talking about inspections of NGOs. In Germany, they were very unhappy when branches of the German Adenauer and Ebert foundations, associated with the largest political parties in the country, came under inspection in Russia.

How the Russian prosecutor's office checks German funds

On the evening of April 7, Merkel and Putin are scheduled to attend the opening of the annual Hannover Fair. There, about 300 demonstrators have already been waiting for the Russian president since 15:00 German time. PublicPost spoke with one of the organizers of the event , Ilya Rivkin, about who came to protest against Putin.

Ilya Rivkin, IT manager, member of the Coordination Council of the Russian-speaking association of compatriots "Berlin-Brandenburg":

“We are now standing in front of the Congress Hall in Hannover. There are about 300 of us here. There are representatives of German human rights organizations, the Society for the Defense of Oppressed Peoples, there are Syrians who are protesting against the import of weapons into Syria, Chechens, representatives of the LGBT community, Russian human rights and liberal groups and political refugees.

- What do you plan to do?

There is still a picket here. The motorcade of President Putin and Federal Chancellor Merkel should pass by us. We have prepared posters. Our Berlin group brought portraits of political prisoners. We stand with them. There are also flags of Chechnya, the flag of the Syrian opposition, rainbow flags. Slogans are shouted in German. I will translate in my own words: “We stand here because our freedoms and our rights were stolen.”

— Did many people come with you from Berlin to Hanover?

Our group of seven people arrived from Berlin. There will also be a car - about five people. Even now people from Hamburg will arrive. It’s quite strange to see Russian nationalists here at the demonstration, but nevertheless they are present. Their representative stands quite peacefully next to the rainbow flags. We will stay until about seven in the evening. There is a German equivalent of riot police standing nearby, they are behaving very nicely, everything is fine with them. For 300 people, I see about five police officers, and several mounted ones. The press is already here, journalists keep coming and coming.

— What are the sentiments in Germany regarding Putin’s visit?

There are very different attitudes towards Putin here. There are people who have a negative attitude towards Putin - this is mainly the electorate of the Green Party, supporters of human rights. Active people with an active civic position have a negative attitude towards Putin. But there are people who, due to anti-Americanism or nostalgia for a firm hand, are Putin’s supporters. These are mainly people of conservative views or, conversely, leftists who believe that those who are verbally against NATO are good."

From Germany, Putin is flying to Holland : in Amsterdam they are also going to greet him with protests and demonstrations.