AfD lawmakers barred from meeting with Medvedev in Sochi
REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen
A delegation of MPs from the German far-right AfD party, set to visit Russia next week, will not meet with former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, German newspaper Die Welt reported on Nov. 6. Medvedev currently serves as Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council.
Bundestag members Steffen Kotré and Rainer Rothfuss, Saxony state party leader Jorg Urban, and MEP Hans Neuhoff are slated to attend a BRICS conference in Sochi from Nov. 13 to 16. Rothfuss had said he planned to join a discussion with Medvedev on the eve of the conference, describing last year’s conversation between the two as “constructive and useful.”
But Markus Frohnmaier, AfD deputy parliamentary group leader and foreign policy spokesman, told reporters there would be no meeting with Medvedev. Sources cited by Die Welt said the ban applies to all members of the visiting party.
Despite the cancellation, AfD leadership has endorsed the trip. The party described it as an opportunity to maintain dialogue channels with Moscow.
On Nov. 5, German broadcaster Tagesschau reported that Kotré and Rothfuss planned a mid-November trip to Russia. According to that report, they would depart for Sochi on Nov. 13 and, on Nov. 17, participate in an “international BRICS-Europe symposium,” where Rothfuss is to deliver a speech.
Also on Nov. 5, Der Spiegel published allegations by senior German officials accusing the AfD of deliberately abusing its parliamentary privileges to gather and potentially transfer classified information on Germany’s military capabilities and critical infrastructure to Russia. The AfD has dismissed those accusations as politically motivated.
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