Brandenburg delegation to visit Belarus, Russia to restore ties — BSW politician

BERLIN, October 11. /TASS/. Representatives of five political parties and public groups from the German federal state of Brandenburg will visit Belarus from November 6 to 11 and Russia in April to restore inter-municipal and twin-city ties severed at Berlin’s initiative, Sven Hornauf, a Brandenburg Landtag member from the BSW party, who organizes the trip, said.

"We are going to Belarus from November 6 to 11, 2026, and to Russia - presumably in the first week of April. Initially, we wanted to combine these trips, but due to the scale of the countries and the organizational requirements, we decided to split them. Especially since we have four partner cities in Belarus, and ten in Russia," Hornauf told TASS.

According to him, the main goal of the trip is to send a signal.

"We want to restore the contacts and partnerships that were artificially severed at the initiative of the German government. Through these two trips, representatives of all the cities and districts in Brandenburg that have twinning ties will be able to resume these contacts simultaneously," he said.

"We strive to ensure that people from these two or three countries could again meet in person - without the obstacles created by ‘big politics’ (at least on the German side) and to interact at all levels, as is customary among friends and partners: in the spheres of art, culture, sports, the church, and so on," Hornauf continued. He said that representatives of the five different political parties, as well as a wide variety of social groups (orchestra musicians, theatre professionals, firefighters, clergy, athletes, municipal and state politicians), would take part in the November trip.

"At the same time, we want to send a signal in favor of further mutual understanding between our countries and peoples. We openly declare that we consider the severance of contacts, the embargo, and the hostility on the part of the [German] government to be mistaken steps. Attempts to drive a wedge between our countries and peoples are artificial and do not serve the interests of our citizens," Hornauf said.

The visit program, he noted, is currently under coordination. It is expected that the German delegation will meet with the leadership of municipalities, as well as with representatives of the departments overseeing issues related to culture, sports, and inter-church dialogue. On November 7 in Minsk, the German representatives intend to take part in the ceremonial events marking Belarus’s national holiday.