Unless a pandemic intervenes, around 20 top German managers meet with Russia's President Vladimir Putin once a year.

Sometimes in the Kremlin, sometimes in Putin's favorite residence in Sochi.

The exchange about the German-Russian economy and joint projects lasts one and a half to three hours.

The meeting has repeatedly caused criticism - for example in 2019, when the federal prosecutor's office was investigating a murder in Berlin's Tiergarten, which even then looked like an order from the Kremlin, which the court later confirmed.

This year, the round of talks is scheduled to take place as a video call in early March - although, as many in the West fear, Russia could give the order to attack Ukraine at any time.

Catherine Wagner

Business correspondent for Russia and the CIS based in Moscow.

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Johannes Pennekamp

Responsible editor for economic reporting, responsible for "The Lounge".

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Julia Loehr

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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The organiser, the Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, has secured itself: According to the association, there had already been close coordination with the federal government in advance.

A situation like that in Italy, where the government recently asked the organizers of a similar event to cancel it in vain, cannot be imagined in the Eastern Committee.

Until 2013, meetings with Putin were held as part of government consultations suspended over Russia's 2014 attacks on Ukraine.

They were then continued in the new format - now without a Federal Chancellor or Economics Minister.

You have to talk, even in the most difficult times, according to the Eastern Committee.

Not everyone in Berlin sees it that way: “Of course it makes sense to stay in dialogue with each other.

Nevertheless, I would have liked the companies in the East Committee to be more sensitive to the current situation," says Lukas Köhler, deputy parliamentary group leader of the FDP and climate and energy expert for his party.

"In view of Russia's blatant threats against Ukraine, business as usual is certainly not the right path," said Koehler.

“It would have been an appropriate signal to Putin to cancel this year's meeting and not provide the Russian President with a high-level platform of the kind he is used to using for his propaganda purposes.

A spokeswoman for Economics and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck (Greens), on the other hand, did not want to comment on the planned event of the Eastern Committee.

"This is a registered association that is responsible for its events and appointments," she said.

It is not yet clear which company bosses will take part in the talks.

So far, the head of the Metro retail group, Steffen Greubel, and Christian Bruch, head of Siemens Energy, have publicly agreed.

The Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations states that the interest in the event is great among the most important investors;

Bayer CEO Werner Baumann, Bilfinger Supervisory Board Chairman Eckhard Cordes and meat manufacturer Clemens Tönnies also sit in the presidency of the lobby group.

Siemens, VW and Daimler, Henkel and the industrial gases company Linde are also among the most active German companies in Russia.

Compulsory medical examinations for expats in Russia

One topic that is likely to play a role in this year's conversation is the compulsory medical examinations that expats in Russia have recently had to undergo.

According to current legislation, all foreigners who come to Russia for work purposes must undergo regular blood and X-ray tests;

Family members are also affected, including children from the age of seven.

The German-Russian Chamber of Commerce Abroad (AHK), which otherwise always tries to spread optimism about the situation in economic relations, recently reported that the compulsory tests are one reason why more and more German companies are leaving the country: In 2011, 6,300 German companies were still in Reported to Russia, the value fell by 42 percent to only 3651 companies by 2021.

AHK boss Matthias Schepp told the FAZ that the bad political situation was one of the decisive factors;

Many in the West now regard Russia as "toxic", which also affects the attractiveness of a location.

The companies that stayed, however, made "good money";

none of the big companies will probably leave the country because of the compulsory tests.

In any case, the AHK is confident that it will be possible to weaken the new regulation or to overturn it entirely.

According to the Eastern European Committee, in 2021 Russia was Germany’s third most important trading partner in Eastern Europe with a trade volume of almost 60 billion euros.

For several years, German companies in Russia have been feeling the consequences of Russian protectionism more and more clearly: since 2014, the Russian government has been trying to make the economy independent from the West.

In response to Western sanctions over the Ukraine conflict, she banned the import of various foods from European countries in order to promote her own agriculture.

Foreign companies are also being pushed to relocate their production to Russia;

some local customers already prefer Russian providers.

Another legislative initiative now wants to restrict the rights of companies with foreign participation and exclude them from certain tenders.

If the project is implemented, it would be another "very bad signal" for the business climate,