GPPi researcher calls on Germany not to downplay human rights when dealing with Russia

On 10 January 2014, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau published an op-ed by GPPi’s Katrin Kinzelbach. Taking the recent release of Mikhail Khodorkovsy and the involvement of German mediators as her point of departure, Kinzelbach reflects on Germany’s human rights policy towards Russia. She calls on the new German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier not to downplay human rights concerns when dealing with Russia.

Kinzelbach argues that quiet diplomacy is important but that it should not replace public human rights promotion and the unequivocal condemnation of violations. Diplomatic efforts on behalf of individual detainees do not signal a broader disapproval of political imprisonment and repression if they are accompanied by apologetic messages.

Click here to read the commentary (in German).