Wolfgang Biermann, one of Egon Bahr's long-time colleagues, speaks up from the audience, asking why many institutional contacts to Russia now being broken off? From Egon Bahr's perspective, it would be all the more important to maintain as much contact as possible with science, cities and the people, he says. Former OSCE Ambassador Rüdiger Lüdeking agrees. "We have to be careful not to act out of moral indignation alone. We have to keep a cool head," he says. That includes not allowing the thread that is dialogue to break off, he says. -mb

Katrin Rulle

When the Russian president annexed Crimea in 2014, there was a major outcry but so far, diplomatic efforts have failed to resolve the conflict. Ljudmyla Melnyk stresses that it was a "big mistake" worldwide to disregard Russian propaganda. Looking back, she says, "Russian propaganda gives us an insight into the regime's thinking." Sanctions as severe as those we are seeing today were already necessary following the annexation of Crimea. -ls

Katrin Rulle