News from Berlin – Yesterday, the Russian House for Science and Culture in Berlin presented a book entitled “Vladimir Putin: Speeches to the Germans”. Speakers included its editors Jürgen Elsässer, a German journalist and political activist and Yasmine Pazio, an independent journalist.

The 122-page book that was published by Compact-Magazin GmbH includes selected speeches made by the Russian president between 2001 and 2014, beginning with a speech he held at the German Bundestag in September 2001 in which he emphasized the sustained tradition of good Russian-German economic, political and cultural relations. Famously he also stated: “Russia has always had special feelings towards Germany”.

As the press secretary of the Russian Embassy in Germany Sergei Belyaev commented, this work is an important initiative as it provides German citizens with an unbiased portrayal of recent events including those in Ukraine, in an era when Russian policies and its overall leadership are frequently depicted negatively in media outlets. The book aims to provide Germans with first-hand information about Russia’s position on their country and other political issues, in order to give them a clear idea about the logic and argument behind Russian foreign policy. Other media outlets have called the book an effort to counter ‘anti-Russia propaganda’ in Germany.

News from Berlin – Berlin Global