German city of Zuhl refuses to twin with Podilsk

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The flag of the city of Zul. Photo: Wikipedia

The city council of the German city of Sul has suspended negotiations with the Ukrainian city of Podilsk, located in Odesa region, on a twinning agreement.

According to the German newspaper tagesschau, this decision was made due to fears that a partnership with the Ukrainian city would negatively affect relations with the Russian city of Kaluga.

The mayor of Podilsk had previously approached the mayor of Zul, Andre Knapp (CDU), with a request. An initial conversation has already taken place. As reported by the newspaper "Freie Wort", the mayor of Zul, Andre Knapp, criticized the decision against further discussion at the city council meeting and called it "strange".

The letter should also be sent to all governments in the twin cities and call for more diplomacy. Lars Jahne of the CDU parliamentary group said that the risk of breaking with Kaluga is too great. In his opinion, it is more important to maintain relations with civil society. In addition to the CDU, the majority of the AfD also rejected the application. The CDU's parliamentary group includes, among others, city councillor Martin Kummer, who is also the chairman of the German-Russian Friendship Society in Thuringia.

Sul (German: Suhl) is a city in the center of Germany, an administrative unit of district subordination in the federal state of Thuringia. As of December 31, 2021, the city's population was 37 thousand 9 people. The first mention of Suhl dates back to 1318, when the city was located in the county of Henneberg. In 1527, Count Henneberg-Schleisinger officially transferred the rights and status of the city to Zul.

It should be noted that after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, the cities of Odesa region broke off fraternal relations with Russian cities. In Odesa, for example, it was decided to remove the signs of Brest and Minsk from the memorial sign of the twin cities located on Exchange Square, and in April, the signs of the cities of Russia: Volgograd, Moscow, Rostov-on-Don, St. Petersburg, and Taganrog. Instead, there were signs dedicated to Venice, Miami and Miami Beach.

During a business trip to Italy in November 2022, Odesa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov signed an agreement on sister city relations with Venice Mayor Luigi Bruniaro.