Overview
- President Vladimir Putin personally presented the Russian Friendship Order to Justus Frantz in Moscow on November 4.
- Putin praised Frantz for fostering cultural ties between Russia and Germany in remarks during the award presentation.
- Frantz was reported to have traveled to Russia for the ceremony despite Western sanctions restricting engagement with the country.
- The 81-year-old has called himself a “Putin-understander” and defended Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea as a “redress of historical injustice.”
- He previously signed the 2023 “Manifest für Frieden” opposing weapons deliveries to Ukraine and was dropped by the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in 2023 and 2024 over his Kremlin ties.