That the debate was held in Munich – and not Berlin – was a recognition of Bavaria’s visible role in German federal politics and its considerable impact on Berlin’s foreign policies. Munich has become a prominent location to debate international affairs through the annual Munich Security Conference. Horst Seehofer and Edmund Stoiber, the current and former Bavarian prime ministers and the best-known representatives of the Christian-Social Union (CSU), the southern German state’s regional ruling party, have caused a schism in German moderate conservatism’s official position by coming out against prolonging EU sanctions on Russia. Oddly, these center-right politicians took a position traditionally associated with Germany’s Social Democrats as well as its extreme right and radical left rather than the moderately conservative mainstream.
Andreas Umland: The German-Russian relationship – it’s complicated
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) greets Bavarian premier Horst Seehofer during a meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, on February 3, 2016.
There's a growing perception in Germany that the Minsk ceasefire agreements may never be implemented and the conflict in Ukraine will continue to grind on. To examine the origins and nature of the conflict as well as its possible solution and the role Bavaria may play in these affairs, the German-Ukrainian NGO Kyiv Dialogue held a public debate in Munich on August 30. Oksana Syroid from the Ukraine's pro-Western parliamentary faction Self-Reliance and Hans-Peter Uhl, the legal advisor of the Bundestag's center-right faction of Germany's ruling coalition, debated. Winfried Schneider-Deters, one of Germany's senior experts on Ukraine, moderated the discussion.
