Vladimir Putin on AfD: “We see nothing that would cause us concern”

Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin has defended meetings between Russian representatives and representatives of the AfD, which is classified in parts as definitely right-wing extremist. “We will work with everyone who wants to cooperate with Russia,” Putin said on Wednesday at a meeting with representatives of major international news agencies, including the German Press Agency, in St. Petersburg. “We see no signs of neo-Nazism in the actions of the AfD,” said the Kremlin chief.

There are no “systemic relations” with the German opposition party. But if someone advocates normal relations with Russia, Moscow supports that. It is not Russia’s job to judge whether a political force is acting within the framework of the constitution. “But we don’t see anything that would cause us concern.”

Vladimir Putin’s Foreign Minister received AfD co-chairman Tino Chrupalla

Representatives of alternative viewpoints are immediately declared to be opponents of the state in Germany, complained Putin, who himself has a reputation for nipping any Russian opposition in the bud and politically persecuting opponents. “Every alternative viewpoint is treated as an anti-state stance. And everyone is immediately declared an agent of the Kremlin,” criticized the Russian president. In the past, for example, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov received AfD co-chairman Tino Chrupalla in Moscow as a state guest.

The media meeting in the striking Lakhta Center skyscraper of the gas giant Gazprom is the first international meeting of its kind since the beginning of Putin’s war against Ukraine. Putin is hosting the 27th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. At the annual meeting of entrepreneurs from all over the world, Russia wants to present itself as an economically strong raw materials power despite the sanctions imposed by the West in the wake of Moscow’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

Fear of attack on NATO territory is “bullshit”

At the meeting, the Kremlin chief also dismissed the fears of Western states of a Russian invasion of NATO territory as “bullshit”. “You made up that Russia wants to attack NATO. Have you gone completely mad? Are you as stupid as this table? Who made that up? That’s nonsense, you understand. Bullshit,” Putin said on Wednesday in St. Petersburg. Meanwhile, the president of Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia, is expected in France this Thursday for a major international commemoration of the Allied landings in Normandy in World War II.

Russia has been waging a large-scale war of aggression against Ukraine since February 2022. As a result, fears of Russian aggression have also grown in other states – especially in the Baltic states. Putin’s statements in St. Petersburg are unlikely to calm things down there, as Moscow had repeatedly denied any plans for an attack even before its invasion of Ukraine.