Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel Alexander Schuke Potsdam Orgelbau has supplied pipe organs to cathedrals and concert halls for almost 200 years, surviving a wave of upheavals including war and nationalisation under the communist regime of the former East Germany. But the economic fallout from the conflict in eastern Ukraine has forced the family-owned company to seek insolvency protection. More On this topic IN EU Economy Its problems arose after Ukrainian and Russian customers failed to pay for two instruments that took months to build, leaving the company some €400,000 out of pocket. “A small company like ours cannot withstand that kind of shortfall,” says Matthias Schuke, chief executive. “We’ve never known something like this. We know Russia as a very reliable partner.” Germany’s close business links with Russia , in part a legacy of its cold war Ostpolitik , were once a source of growth and profits. But […]