FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
An adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited politicians from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to an economic forum in June, in an illustration of how the Kremlin is cultivating ties with Germany's far right.
At least two AfD members of the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, lawmakers Markus Frohnmaier and Steffen Kotré, will attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum after receiving invitations, according to three party politicians with knowledge of the situation.
“We are convinced that pragmatic cooperation will help strengthen your business, political and cultural ties for the benefit of a just world and a secure future ,” says an invitation addressed to an AfD politician and signed by Putin’s advisor Anton Kobyakov. The letter also notes that Putin is expected to attend the forum.
The AfD’s national co-chair, Alice Weidel, sought to limit the party’s lawmakers’ travel to Russia ahead of two state elections in western Germany earlier this year, calculating that overtly pro-Putin displays would not go down well with voters in those states. But the planned participation of relatively senior AfD politician Markus Frohnmaier at the forum in June suggests the party leadership may change course ahead of two state elections in eastern Germany scheduled for September.
Voters in the former East Germany are more likely to favor closer ties with Russia, and the AfD is far ahead in polls in both states where elections are being held. Stefan Keuter, an AfD lawmaker authorized to approve party travel requests, said he would approve Frohnmaier and Kotré's participation in the forum.
"Politically, there is absolutely no reason not to do this," Keuter said.
Before Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, the annual forum in St. Petersburg, sometimes called "Putin's Davos," regularly attracted important German political figures, including Angela Merkel, who attended in 2013. But the forum is now shunned by major European leaders.
AfD lawmaker Kotré caused controversy last November when he attended a BRICS conference in Sochi, despite pressure within his party to cancel the trip.
But ahead of elections in the two eastern states in September, AfD leaders have renewed their calls for closer ties with Moscow, including a call for the resumption of free flows of natural gas from Russia.
Lini një Përgjigje