Party leadership experiences “storm fire”
Faeser: Putin’s friends in the AfD despise Germany
April 28, 2024, 12:14 p.m
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The AfD’s top candidates for the European elections, Krah and Bystron, have come under massive criticism because of their possible proximity to Russia and China. Interior Minister Faeser sees the AfD politicians as part of the “lies and war propaganda of the Russian criminal regime.” Democracy in Europe is in danger.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser condemned the alleged Chinese espionage in the EU Parliament as an “attack from within on European democracy”. In the “Bild am Sonntag” she also sharply criticized the AfD’s connections to China and Russia after Jian G., a parliamentary employee of the AfD’s top EU candidate, Maximilian Krah, was arrested as a suspected spy.
In this case, Faeser spoke of an “urgent suspicion”. With regard to the espionage allegations, the minister said that they must be examined by independent courts. “All connections and backgrounds will be examined in detail – and in accordance with the rule of law,” said the minister. “This is what distinguishes us from the dictatorships that the AfD so reveres.”
Faeser also referred to the proximity of AfD politicians to the Russian leadership. “The Putin friends of the AfD despise and betray our country. They allow themselves to be harnessed to the lies and war propaganda of the Russian criminal regime,” the Interior Minister continued to tell the newspaper, referring to the behavior of Krah and the number two on the AfD. Europe list, Petr Bystron.
According to a report in “Spiegel”, the office of the European Parliament member Krah is said to have accessed secret parliamentary documents on EU foreign trade several times. Bystron is accused of accepting money from Russia, and Krah is also said to have close contacts in Moscow.
AfD election campaign without a top candidate
Krah and Bystron stayed away from the AfD’s opening event for its European election campaign in Donaueschingen on Saturday. AfD party leader Tino Chrupalla said: “Today it shouldn’t be about Krah, Krah, Krah, but about the AfD.” In his speech, Chrupalla spoke of a “storm fire” that the AfD was facing.
Krah and Bystron should remain the party’s top candidates for the European elections in June. In fact, it would also be very difficult to change the list. The AfD is running in the European elections on June 9th with a list of 35 candidates.
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil also spoke about the AfD’s closeness to the Russian leadership at his party’s campaign launch for the European elections on Saturday. “These are not representatives of German interests, they represent the interests of Russia and China,” he said at the event in Hamburg.
“We now know why they are against the euro, they are for the ruble,” Klingbeil added. “They get paid by Russia and China,” he continued, referring to the allegations against Bystron and Krah.