After four years of absence due to Moscow's war in Ukraine, members of the German business community are set to officially attend the upcoming economic forum in the northern Russian city of St Petersburg.

"Not least with a view to the period following a ceasefire, we want, like other major Western countries, to maintain the economic bridge to Russia and protect the more than €100 billion ($116 billion) of German assets in Russia," Matthias Schepp, chairman of the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce, told dpa.

Amid continuing Western sanctions on thousands of Russian companies, organizations and individuals, US and French representatives returned to the event last year, participating in its so-called business dialogue component.

"The West should not leave Russia, its large market and its raw materials to Asia in the long term," said Schepp. The Chinese alone founded 1,400 new companies in Russia in the first quarter of this year, he noted.

According to the programme of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), German participants in the business dialogue include Stefan Dürr, a dairy producer operating in Russia with the EkoNiva Group, and Thomas Bruch, the longstanding managing director of Globus Holding.

Together with some 1,600 other German companies, the Globus chain remains active in Russia, with an estimated turnover of around €20 billion last year, according to the chamber.

However, due to the sanctions, the trade volume between Germany and Russia last year fell beneath €10 billion. Until the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Germany was Russia's largest European trading partner, with a volume of €59.7 billion in 2021 and €80 billion at its peak in 2012.

Business survey: Germans staying in Russia

According to a new survey of the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce's 750 members on the business climate, almost all companies plan to remain in Russia due to the significance of its market. A total of 75% of the 265 respondents said they were satisfied with the development of their business in Russia – despite high losses due to the sanctions.

Two-thirds are convinced that the West's punitive measures are having a significant (49%) or very significant (18%) impact on the Russian economy. Just over a third of companies believe the sanctions are causing more harm to Germany than to Russia, and more than half said they were harming Germany and Russia equally.

Regarding a resumption of German purchases of Russian gas and oil, 65% wanted this as soon as possible, and 31% backed the move "only once the fighting in Ukraine has ceased."

Taking place from June 3-6, the economic forum will be hosted by Putin as in previous years. It will also hold an event on the theme of culture as a bridge-builder in times of crisis.

According to the organizers, German participants will also include the conductor Justus Frantz, the chairman of the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) in the state of Saxony, Jörg Urban, Berlin publisher Holger Friedrich and filmmaker and journalist Hubert Seipel.