Judy Dempsey: It’s time to ditch the Petersburg dialogue
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) leaders summit in Astana on October 16, 2015.
The Petersburg Dialogue is one of those leftovers of Germany's Ostpolitik whose proponents believed that cooperation between Germany and Russia would increase stability in Europe and even promote gradual political change in Russia. The dialogue was founded in 2001 by the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder and President Vladimir Putin in order to "promote understanding between the two nations."
