Orkhan Sattarov, the head of the European Bureau of Vestnik Kavkaza
The Ukrainian crisis became a fault line in Europe not only for politicians, but also for the expert and journalistic communities. First of all I mean Germany, which officially supports the new Ukrainian authorities. The mainstream German journalists’ community often covers Ukrainian developments one-sidedly, and articles on details of the Russian position are rare. One of a few political scientists and experts on Russia whose pragmatic views don’t match the general picture of the anti-Russian mainstream is Alexander Rahr, the scientific director of the German-Russian Forum. Unlike many analysts and journalists, he doesn’t demonize Russia and prefers constructive dialogue.
Alexander Rahr, who speaks Russian and German fluently, is a so-called mediator in the Russian-German dialogue; he tries to explain the German stance to Russia in a constructive form, and the Russian position to Germany. The mission appeared to be thankless. Die Welt, which is thought to be rather conservative, has recently published a “revelatory” article saying that the well-known political scientist is a Kremlin agent and Russian lobbyist. The statement is “confirmed” by two well-known anti-Russian German MPs, who criticize Rahr and parts of his interviews in which he “dares” explain Russian motives in the Ukrainian crisis.
Vestnik Kavkaza asked Alexander Rahr to comment on the article by Die Welt. “My late father published articles in Die Welt in the 1970-1980s. I used to be published there as well. I once interviewed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashnko for Die Welt, organized an interview with Yulia Timoshenko and many Russian politicians. The article by Die Welt stabbed me in the back,” Rahr says.
Let’s remember that recently the German media, including Die Welt, have celebrated the release of the Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who moved to Germany. Today nobody wants to remember that Alexander Rahr played a significant role in Khodorkovsky’s release. His contacts with Russian politicians, which are criticized by Die Welt, appeared to be a guarantee of “Berlin’s diplomatic victory,” as German journalists wrote about Khodorkovsky’s amnesty.
