Putin's New Term - Why Some EU Nations Are Not Attending

Putin begins his fifth term as Russian president. dpa

There are considerable differences within the EU regarding the proper approach to invitations to the ceremony marking the start of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s fifth term. As several EU diplomats told the German Press Agency in Brussels on Monday, countries such as France, Hungary, and Slovakia plan to send representatives to Putin’s inauguration to keep communication channels open.

Germany declines participation

Germany and numerous other EU states consider participation, particularly in view of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, to be inappropriate. “Germany will not be attending,” a spokesperson for the Foreign Office said on Monday in Berlin.

In the case of the Federal Republic, the government has recalled the German ambassador in Moscow, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, to Berlin for consultations for a week following cyberattacks on the SPD and German companies. The Federal Government holds a unit of the Russian military intelligence service responsible for the attacks.

EU Ambassadors collectively boycott Moscow ceremony

Like most ambassadors of the EU member states, the official representative of the European Union in Moscow will also not be present at the ceremony on Tuesday, as a spokesperson for the European External Action Service said late in the evening in Brussels. The High Representative, Josep Borrell, had previously spoken out against the EU’s participation in the event. According to diplomats, there were also dissenting voices. These had warned, among other things, that staying away from the ceremony could give Russia a pretext to ignore more diplomatic rules and norms in the future.

Putin plans to take the oath for another term as Russian president on Tuesday morning. This marks the start of another six years as head of state for him. The ceremony in the Kremlin will take place in front of representatives of the government, both chambers of the Russian Parliament, and other high-ranking guests. Putin, who has dominated the country’s politics for 24 years and is 71 years old, had confirmed a record result of more than 87 percent of the votes in the presidential election in March.

EU criticizes Russian election as undemocratic

The EU voiced sharp criticism of the election process. A statement said that the Russian electorate had very limited access to factual information and “no real choice”. One reason for this was, among other things, that numerous candidates had been excluded – including all those who had spoken out against Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.