Hamburg AfD politician is said to live in Russia but receives a diet

The Hamburg AfD has a problem with its parliamentary representative Olga Petersen. The party expelled the fanatical Putin supporter from the parliamentary group in May 2024, but the Russian German did not want to give up her mandate. That doesn’t sound unusual at first. In other parties it also happens that MPs leave or are excluded from the parliamentary group and still retain their mandate.

But the case is different for Olga Petersen: She hasn’t taken part in a town hall meeting since mid-May, and she hasn’t been seen in the district assembly in the Hamburg district of Harburg, where she also has a seat, since February. Nevertheless, she continues to receive diets, as the “Bild” newspaper now reports. She receives 4,448 euros per month for her citizenship mandate, and since August she has been collecting 1,054 euros (previously: 560 euros) for her seat in the district parliament.

The suspicion is that Petersen moved to Russia with her four children after her exclusion from the parliamentary group and has her permanent residence there. If that were the case, she would have no right to payment. The citizenship administration confirmed this star, that Petersen has skipped every meeting since May 15th. She “regularly apologized” and is said to have submitted small requests despite her absence.

In fact, the Russian news agency Tass reported on June 1st that the AfD politician had fled to Russia. The reason for the “escape” was that the Hamburg youth welfare office allegedly wanted to take her children away. He confirmed to Petersen that she had taken the children out of the country. The school authorities then initiated a so-called absenteeism procedure because school attendance is compulsory in Germany and the children were not officially deregistered. The case has now been discontinued because Petersen has proven that her children went to school in Russia, the “Hamburger Abendblatt” recently reported.

The question remains: Where is Petersen’s center of life? City employees are said to have visited Petersen’s Hamburg address and did not find her. According to statements from neighbors, the apartment was recently unoccupied. The citizens’ office, however, is holding back from making judgments. So far there is no official indication of a move, it is said. “It has already happened that members of parliament do not come to meetings for a long time for private reasons,” it was reported star communicated upon request.

Petersen, who was born in Omsk, Siberia, was elected to the Hamburg parliament in 2020 for the right-wing populists. But even for the Russia-friendly AfD, the 42-year-old’s enthusiasm for Vladimir Putin was too much of a good thing. The break finally came in March after Petersen traveled to Russia for the presidential election, even though the party had strongly advised against it. Officially, she was traveling as a private citizen, but gave diligent interviews and described the election as “open, democratic and free.” She has also been a welcome guest on Russian TV shows before.

The consequence: The AfD faction kicked her out, and at the same time a party expulsion process was initiated, which is still ongoing. Dem star The Hamburg AfD assured that they were “determined” to “conclude it as quickly as possible in order to prevent further damage to the party.” It is hoped for a “first instance decision in the first half of 2025.”