Russia and Its Neighbours
Paneuropa-Germany dedicated the 65th Andechs Europe Day, which took place on 21 and 22 March 2026 in collaboration with the Bavarian State Chancellery, to the topic “Russia and Its Neighbours – From China to the Black Sea”.
According to the President of Paneuropa-Germany, Bernd Posselt, Russia is making a “fatal mistake” if it “locks horns with Europe, as in the war in Ukraine, and mistakenly regards China as a reliable ally.” In the long term, Beijing is striving to decolonise the Asian part of Russia and draw the peoples living there into its sphere of influence. Posselt expects the Russian Federation to disintegrate one day if it continues to follow Putin’s policies: “A democratic Russia, on the other hand, could become an equal partner of the United States of Europe, which we must finally build if we do not want to disappear from the map.”
Anastasiia Hatsenko, chair of the local Pan-European Youth organisation, spoke about Russia’s disinformation strategies and Ukraine’s will to defend itself. In the Soviet system, she said, information was never about truth but about control: “Reality was not depicted but constructed; and this logic did not disappear with the collapse of the Soviet Union, but has evolved.” Thus, propaganda no longer attempts to convince people of a single version: “It simultaneously generates many, often contradictory versions of events to make people stop believing that truth exists at all.”
Michael Paul from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs described the geostrategic changes in the Arctic brought about by climate change.
Wilfried Jilge from the German Council on Foreign Relations spoke about “Europe’s most vulnerable areas, from the Black Sea to the Baltic region.” He began by addressing the exploitation of Russian minorities in the Baltic states by networks controlled by Moscow, and the build-up of Russian military forces in northern East Prussia around Kaliningrad. However, Jilge placed the emphasis on the Black Sea region, where Russia has brought the Sea of Azov, in particular, entirely under its control. He called on NATO and the EU to develop a well-founded Black Sea strategy that stabilises the EU member states Romania and Bulgaria and the candidate countries Ukraine and Moldova.
Father Valentin Ziegler OSB welcomed the 140 guests from 11 nations to Bavaria’s Holy Mountain. His order was today commemorating the passing of its founder, St Benedict, the patron saint of Europe, whose monastery at Montecassino, destroyed during the Second World War, had become a memorial to peace in central Italy. The Paneuropa Union serves this peace by fostering communication, learning from history and addressing the differences between neighbours.
The evening at the monastery inn was provided by the Iberisi Choir, which transported the guests to various regions of Georgia and upholds the local tradition of polyphony, with radiant sounds from the service and spirited everyday songs, some of which date back to pre-Christian times.
Sunday began with a service in the Andechs pilgrimage church, led by the former abbot of the Benedictine monastery of St. Stephan in Augsburg, Emmeram Kränkl OSB. He referred the Pan-Europeans to St Benedict for guidance on their task: just as St Benedict could not have foreseen that his Rule would shape Europe through the many monasteries of his Order over 1,500 years, so too today “no commitment to a Christian Europe will remain without consequences for the future. Good prevails; evil carries the seed of self-destruction within itself.”
At the subsequent forum on the topic “Is Russia really strong?”, the founder of the Centre for Liberal Modernity, Marie-Luise Beck of Alliance 90/The Greens, recalled her own beginnings in the peace movement of the 1980s. “Back then, we did not think through National Socialism, the World War and the Shoah to their logical conclusion, and failed to recognise that ‘never again’ has two parts.” In Bosnia, she then came to know the reality of war and the absurdity of the situation facing the Bosnians, who were attacked by Serbian extremists, had no weapons, and were then subjected to an arms embargo by the international community. Today, the former Parliamentary State Secretary is “deeply convinced that the Ukrainians are fighting for our freedom and the future of Europe” and that arming them is necessary.
The European Parliament’s standing rapporteur on Ukraine, Michael Gahler (CDU), pointed to Russia’s strengths as its wealth of natural resources, its external public debt – which Putin has systematically reduced – a solid financial reserve built up through the sale of raw materials, and a booming, adaptable war economy. With regard to Ukraine, he confirmed: “The main responsibility now lies with us.” The US was now only supplying arms in return for payment, and one could only hope that Trump would continue to allow satellite surveillance. Although the Ukrainians were developing their own arms production, Russia possessed long-range missiles and an air force. Gahler therefore called for the delivery of the Taurus. This would also send a political signal of determination “that Ukraine must prevail”, for the perception in Russia. Gahler called for unity within the European Council and for the 90-billion-euro loan to be made possible – “and perhaps the Hungarians will help out on 12 April,” he remarked, referring to a possible defeat of Viktor Orbán at the polls.
The Russian journalist Andrey Gurkov pointed out that Russia’s strength has been a key theme of propaganda since Putin took office 25 years ago. In fact, Russia’s greatest strength – one that must be taken very seriously – is propaganda. Another of Russia’s strengths is its willingness to sacrifice human lives without hesitation – “thank God Europe is not prepared to do that; that is the good thing about European civilisation”.
On the subject of steadfastness, Markus Ingenlath, managing director of the Christian Eastern European aid organisation Renovabis, recalled his own military service: the fall of the Wall had required the courageous demonstrators, “but also the hundreds of thousands who served in the West and provided a credible deterrent.” He reported on the resurgence of secret service surveillance right at the start of the Putin era, when he was in Moscow for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation: “I travelled to Perm, and my colleagues sent my CV to the local KGB. They said: ‘That’s what you have to do!’ My driver was also a KGB agent.” On the situation of the churches, he noted: “The churches in Russia are not free.”
he Vice-President of the International Paneuropa Union, Dirk H. Voß, warned against both “fear and hysteria” and “deep slumber”, and praised Ukraine’s motivation and innovative spirit, which had astonished high-ranking military officers with no experience of war. Referring to the words of Paneuropa founder Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, who stated that for pacifism to prevail, military superiority must lie on the side of peace, he urged Germany in particular to avoid over-regulation, such as excessively lengthy approval procedures in drone production: “We must break away from such habits and consider what we really need.”
Programme (DE) (PDF)
Press release (DE) (PDF)