Kremlin
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia
CDU and SPD politicians warn that presence at this conference is a dangerous signal for international partners and investors.
Four politicians from AfD – Alternative for Germany will be in the Russia, to be at a conference.
Steffen Kotré, Rainer Rothfuß, Jörg Urban and Hans Neuhoff go to Sochi, later this week, to participate in the Symposium International format BRICS-Europa.
BRICS is an economic cooperation group that brings together Brazil, Russia, India and China; now it also has South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Iran.
Before February 2022, this trip probably wouldn’t even be in the news. But with the scenario and the tensions evident between Russia and several countries, it is news in Germany; and the target of criticism.
CDU and SPD politicians warn that this trip to Russia is a dangerous signal for international partners and investors.
Sepp Müller, vice-president of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Parliament, said in the : “The AfD must clearly identify Russia as the aggressor at the conference and demand an immediate ceasefire. Otherwise, will put investor confidence at risk international and will harm, once again, the German economy, which is focused on export”.
Sebastian Roloff from the SPD parliamentary group also criticized the AfD. He considers that this trip revealed the true intentions of the far-right party: “The AfD is acting for the benefit of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and, therefore, harming Germany’s economy. Putin’s mass war crimes don’t seem to bother” the party claims. Furthermore, the Social Democrat believes, the AfD wants to receive Russian gas again and thus become dependent on Russia.
Gitta Connemann (CDU), leader of the Union of Small and Medium Enterprises and the Economic Union, described the AfD as a “huge threat” to the German economy. The “setback” of leaving the euro and the European Union, and returning to Russian gas, would have “fatal consequences”.
For Gitta, anyone who tries to strengthen ties with the Kremlin puts investments, jobs, Germany’s energy security, the country’s prosperity and Europe’s stability at risk.
The general secretary of the CSU, Martin Huber, went further: “This is treason. The AfD has long been Moscow’s mouthpiece in Germany. Anyone who allows Putin’s henchmen to dictate his policies is not a patriot, but a puppet and a risk to our country”, added Huber.
The AfD parliamentary group does not see any problem. Support the trip and will pay expenses. The idea of the trip, indicates the party, is to keep communication channels with Russia open.
AfD deputies are constantly accused of being too close to the Kremlin. The party wants an end to sanctions against Russia.
Hans Neuhoff, one of the members who will be in Russia, explains: “European Union politicians who think we should ignore BRICS are missing the point of geopolitics. They are leading Germany and Europe towards marginality, not towards a prosperous future”.
Bernd Baumann, leader of the AfD parliamentary group, rejected accusations of treason. And he looked at history: “If contacts with Moscow were considered treason, which CSU leader Franz Josef Strauss was at the time, he would have already committed treason when he flew to Moscow for negotiations in 1987 in a plane he himself piloted, right in the middle of the illegal war of aggression against Afghanistan.”
And remember that the AfD parliamentary group condemned, unanimously, the invasion from Russia to Ukraine.
Steffen Kotré, another participant at the conference in Sochi, admits that the delegation is looking for “German interests” which, he claims, the German Government no longer even seeks: affordable energy and “peace diplomacy”.
