Weidel versus Chrupalla: A trip to Russia with obstacles

On Thursday morning, the AfD delivered very dry statements from both party leaders. It doesn’t say which topics they want to comment on, and that’s also unusual. There are only two sentences: “As federal spokesperson for Alternative Germany, we will continue to create a common policy for Germany and its citizens in the future. To this end, we maintain good relations with our European and international partners.” On the one hand it sounds meaningless – but on the other hand it says a lot.

As FAZ learned from party leader Tino Chrupalla’s entourage, the announcement was intended to temporarily end the debate regarding AfD politicians’ trips to Russia. Party leader Alice Weidel expressed her surprise to FAZ. In fact, this statement raises questions. Why does the first sentence emphasize that Weidel and Chrupalla will continue to do politics “together,” as if that is up for debate? And why, when the reason for the communication is a trip of AfD politicians to Russia, is there talk of “good relations” with “international partners”?

This topic is likely to spark debate within the AfD. This is what happened in the last few days after news circulated that several AfD politicians were planning to travel to Russia. They want to attend the “BRICS-Europe international symposium” scheduled to take place this Friday and Saturday in Sochi, like the previous conference in November last year. AfD politicians also planned a meeting with Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Putin’s deputy at the Security Council presidency and interim deputy to the presidency. The process caused anger among party officials. Weidel was basically against the trip. “I don’t understand what you have to do, frankly here,” he said in a press statement in the Bundestag this week.

He was even clearer to the right-wing extremist magazine “Compact”: “As far as I can understand the background of individual MPs, they will not have any relevant influence in the peace negotiations.” That illusion must be removed from them. After all, you don’t need to travel to ski resorts – Sochi is on the Black Sea, but the Caucasus mountains offer winter sports. “You can also stay at home and do your parliamentary work here.”

However, an external working group of the AfD parliamentary group has apparently approved the travel request. The meeting with Medvedev was not mentioned. As a spokesperson for the parliamentary group told FAZ, the rule is that the trip must be registered with all appointments and conversation partners. In addition, care must be taken to ensure that such travelers represent the AfD and therefore do not attend appointments that could be misrepresented in Germany.

So efforts were made to limit the damage. According to Weidel’s wishes, Medvedev’s appointment should be canceled and the initiator of the trip, Bundestag member Rainer Rothfuß, would stay home. He decided it himself, according to the group’s leadership. According to a parliamentary group spokesperson, Bundestag member Steffen Kotré, European parliament member Hans Neuhoff and Saxon state lawmaker and AfD state chairman Jörg Urban are scheduled to travel to Sochi on Thursday.

Russia has hosted conference-like events there for years. They were intended to show support for Vladimir Putin’s actions; sometimes it is about “traditional values”, sometimes it is against “globalists”. The message conveyed to domestic audiences is that Russia is the preeminent power in the emerging “multipolar world” and is loved even in countries whose governments have imposed sanctions against the country.

Therefore, foreign policy expert Konstantin Kosachev said on state television after a “symposium” a year ago that “leaders of public opinion” in Europe had come to Sochi and understood that without Russia, the continent would remain a “lagging train.” In the past, politicians such as the AfD have often joined in praising Putin’s fake elections; Markus Frohnmaier, the party’s current foreign policy spokesman, was also active in this regard and also traveled to Russian-occupied Crimea.

Externally, the Kremlin wants to win over like-minded people: forces like the AfD spread its narrative in the West. Last year, parliamentarian Rothfuß, who now lives at home, was in Sochi; also Bavarian AfD state lawmaker Ulrich Singer. There they took photos with Medvedev.

At that time, Rothfuß turned the camera from Sochi to the camera of a media activist networked in the circles of the “Reichsbürger” and the AfD, who according to the magazine “Spiegel” also worked for the Bundestag members themselves, among other things, about “an extraordinary impression”: one was greeted at the airport by “beautiful women” in traditional costumes with bread, salt and “wonderful Beluga vodka”. It was “wonderful”, “the Russian people were so grateful and happy when the world came to visit them”.

He, Rothfuß, heard no accusations and saw no “bitterness,” even though Ukraine was fighting against Russia “as a representative of NATO with German weapons.” In doing this, Rothfuß adopted one of Putin’s narratives about the war that other AfD politicians also frequently propagated. This depicts Ukraine as a puppet of foreign powers, which is one justification for Putin’s land grab, and reinforces the reinterpretation of Russian aggressors as victims of geopolitical defense struggles.

The pairing of the Kremlin and the AfD can also be observed, for example, when they portray the party as a victim of persecution by the political “mainstream,” as do Putin’s spokesmen, among others. Party politicians have been received several times by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. During one of his trips, Chrupalla, while speaking to journalists at a luxury Kremlin hotel in June 2021, noted “similarities” between the treatment of members of the opposition in Russia and the AfD in Germany, which is the “most attacked party” there, but when asked, he did not want this to be understood as criticism of Russia, but of Germany.

The Russian side has repeatedly emphasized, recently in comments from state news agency Ria, that the AfD is a “pro-German, not pro-Russian party” that “only wants to make Germany more independent”. The Kremlin has long followed this pattern with political forces in other countries it likes, and has always sided with those who prefer a single national effort rather than integration into the EU and NATO to divide the opposing side.

Medvedev is under constant pressure to justify himself within the Russian system of power: rapprochement with the West during his presidency from 2008 to 2012 has long been in disrepair. For Putin’s adlatus, a performance like that of the AfD men is an opportunity to make their name proud. Spiegel now reports, citing internal Kremlin documents, that after the first “symposium” in Sochi, Medvedev urged Putin to hold a follow-up meeting.

The “project initiator” of the conference was Oleg Voloshin, a Ukrainian loyal to the Kremlin and close ties to Putin associate Viktor Medvedchuk. Voloshin has been linked to far-right to extreme populist politicians in the EU, such as AfD figure Maximilian Krah and British politician Nathan Gill, who has also been linked to Nigel Farage. Voloshin confirmed to “Spiegel” that he had helped develop the idea for the conference in Sochi, but denied being its sponsor. For an upcoming “symposium” he “gave tips on topics and possible participants.”

From Weidel’s point of view, being associated with this is detrimental to the AfD. He has recently spent a lot of energy trying to improve relations with America’s MAGA movement; Many party members, especially from West German regional associations, saw this alliance as promising. We hear from this camp that we are welcome to leave “conversation channels” open to Russia. So the absolute minimum. There is also the idea that we want to be compatible with the Union and its supporters. This is intended to bring down the fire wall.

According to this camp, party leader Chrupalla is against this. He told ZDF on Thursday morning that he and Weidel agreed that “we want to keep relations with Russia open.” More than just a “conversation channel”. Earlier in the week, Chrupalla apologized about Putin on Markus Lanz’s talk show: “He didn’t do anything to me.” This also angered party members.