Review of Putin's visit to Aying: Only the beer pipeline remains

Created: 03/03/2022, 05:30

By: Martin Becker

Vladimir Putin during a state visit to Aying in 2006.

© Bro

Looking back on the state visit in 2006, the municipality of Aying distanced itself from Vladimir Putin.

Russia is an important export market for the brewery.

Aying – The pictures didn't go around the world at the time, but flickered across television screens nationwide and filled entire newspaper pages: Russia's President Vladimir Putin on a state visit to Aying, invited by Bavaria's then Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber.

Many people from Ayingen have never forgotten October 11, 2006.

How Vladimir Putin's escort pulled up in front of the Sixthof at 8:07 p.m., how he was greeted by firecrackers and a trellis of traditional costumes, how he kissed the hand of little Annalena, then eight years old, as a thank you.

"Two hours of Ayinger pleasure for the Russian President" was the headline in the Münchner Merkur newspaper, and evidence of Putin's visit still exists today.

Namely his entry in the "Golden Book" of the municipality of Aying.

Now, fifteen and a half years later, the moral question arises:

“I can still remember the march well”

"I can still remember the march well," says Aying's current mayor, Peter Wagner (CSU), who was 21 at the time.

He took a closer look at the documentation of Putin's visit recently: "The municipality of Aying did not previously have a 'Golden Book', it was purchased especially for the state visit." Together with Edmund Stoiber, Russia's President was the first to sign this " Golden Book".

A welcome guest back then, now a "persona non grata" in view of the military attack on Ukraine - Aying's mayor is caught in this conflict with regard to the historical document.

"We will not rip out the page," says Peter Wagner when asked by the Munich Merkur.

“I clearly distance myself from Vladimir Putin.

This person who visited Aying in 2006 is not the same one who is now at war.

In my eyes, this person is schizophrenic.

And the fact that such a small, crazy man has his fingers on the buttons for nuclear weapons worries me.” On the other hand, the “Golden Book” now also contains other names, for example that of Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria or ex-soccer star Philipp Lahm, who celebrated his wedding in Aying.

In short, because of Putin, the municipal guest book is not maltreated.

"He's in there," says Peter Wagner, "but I'm no longer happy about his entry today." The boss of the brewery inn, Franz Inselkammer junior, says:

"A state visit is of course something unusual, but it's now 16 years ago and we have always had many special guests in Aying and have done so ever since.

Therefore, this memory does not play a special role for us, which would have to be corrected now.”

Putin photos taken down

In the brewery inn, where the big banquet was held, they have long since hung souvenir photos of Putin's visit from the walls.

"But already during the Crimean crisis in 2014, there were already critical voices," reports the director of the Ayinger brewery, Helmut Erdmann.

Looking back at 2006, he says: “Back then, Putin came as a normal person.

What is happening in Ukraine now – we could not have imagined that back then.”

"After Italy, Russia is the second most important export market"

The fact that business relations between the Ayinger brewery and beer traders in Russia have been established in the meantime had nothing to do with Putin's visit, emphasizes Helmut Erdmann.

Only in 2013, seven years later, did the export business develop.

"After Italy, Russia is the second most important export market for Bavarian beer," says the brewery director.

Since then, the people from Aying have boosted sales via a Russian partner, exporting around five percent of their beer there: “We were at the zenith.

Then came the war and the sanctions, everything was stopped abruptly.”

Although the Russian dealer placed an order last week, "the delivery logistics alone through the war zone are now extremely difficult".

Not to mention the beer prices in Russia after the collapse of the ruble, which is equivalent to three to four euros for half a Helles beer.

“Our Russian partner has invested a lot and was hit hard itself.

We will not end this commitment simply because Putin is waging a war of aggression," says Erdmann.

His dream: "For Russians and Ukrainians to fraternize with Ayinger beer."