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Account Termination and Destruction of Existence to Protect This "Our Democracy" from Independent JournalistsTo maintain a dictatorship, it is important to silence critics and non-narrative reporters. You cannot always imprison everyone, but you can try to destroy their existence. Whoever has nothing left to eat will stop criticizing the leaders loved by many. Naturally, this also follows the principle: Punish one, educate hundreds. 
"Open Letter" to the German Federal President: Moscow, 13.03.26 Dear Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, I am a correspondent in Russia and am writing to you because I am affected by an account termination as of today. This measure is not only capable of destroying my existence, it also contradicts the principles of democracy and press freedom. I ask you to intervene to ensure that the account termination is reversed. I have had my account with Hamburger Sparkasse since the early 1990s. On the phone yesterday, a Sparkasse employee explained to me that the termination was related to EU sanctions against Russia. The employee stated that I live in a "high-risk country." If I live in a "high-risk" country, shouldn't the German government and the EU Commission support me? Instead, they are throwing obstacles in my way. The termination letter I received today only mentions a "review" of all our "business relationships with customers residing in Russia." No specific allegations are made against me. I am not the first German journalist living in Russia to be affected by an account termination. Before me, my colleagues Thomas Röper and Alina Lipp had their accounts closed, thereby losing their means of existence. It is obvious why the three of us were singled out for account termination, while the Moscow correspondents of Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, ZDF, and ARD were not. The three of us report on Russia with understanding, not with frothing anger. But understanding does not fit the war-readiness demanded by the German government. How is this possible, Mr. Steinmeier? Projects of Russian opposition members and journalists living in Germany are supported through funding programs of the Foreign Office, yet a German journalist like me, who lives in Moscow and for 34 years has provided German readers and radio listeners with information and background reports from Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, and the Caucasus, is deprived of his means of existence? I live exclusively from the income of German, Swiss, and Austrian media, which I collected in my account at Hamburger Sparkasse. In the past two years, Hamburger Sparkasse has already blocked online transfers to Moscow, claiming it is a "regional bank." I will turn 72 this year. What am I supposed to say to my great-uncle, Ulrich Wilhelm Graf Schwerin von Schwanenfeld, when I meet him in heaven? He was murdered with a wire noose in September 1944 at Berlin-Plötzensee as a resistance fighter against the Hitler regime. I carry my first name in his honor. What will my great-uncle say? He will say that murder and terror against dissenters also existed in Nazi times, and that he could not have imagined that such a thing would repeat itself in Germany. About me: For ten years, I produced radio features on Russian topics as a freelance contributor for Deutschlandfunk. I was Moscow correspondent for the Sächsische Zeitung for 13 years. For 30 years, I reported for the weekly newspaper "der Freitag." I also wrote for Tagesspiegel, Rheinischer Merkur, Financial Times, Märkische Allgemeine, Thüringer Allgemeine, and Mittelbayerische Zeitung. Today I work for Nachdenkseiten and other German online portals. I am the author of several books on Russia, Ukraine, and German post-war history. In 2024, Promedia Verlag published my book "My Path to Russia: Memories of a Reporter." Sincerely, Ulrich Heyden Email: heyden@list.ru Phone: +7 916 165 25 50
Author: AI-Translation - Redaktion | |
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