Bundestag: AfD shows more distance from Moscow

The Russian invasion of Ukraine had begun less than two weeks earlier, when Petr Bystron wanted to sort out the question of blame from the AfD 's perspective. NATO's sphere of influence had shifted to Russia's border, he said in the Bundestag in March 2022. "What is the price for this? Young men are dying." The German government had ignored all of Vladimir Putin's warnings, he said, "and the result is war in Europe." Bystron was not just anyone; he was speaking as the foreign policy spokesperson for the AfD parliamentary group. The message: The West is to blame for the war, or at least partly responsible. The speech is a climax in a series of pro-Kremlin statements, actions, and connections between AfD politicians and Moscow.

Bystron is currently under investigation on suspicion of money laundering and bribery; he is accused of having accepted money from the operator of the pro-Russian internet portal "Voice of Europe." As a member of the Bundestag, he allegedly acted in Russia's interest. Bystron denies the allegations. He is now an EU member of parliament. At the beginning of May , the European Parliament lifted his immunity .

Other AfD MPs, at Russia's invitation, posed as international "election observers" intended to lend credibility to Putin's sham election as Russian president in March 2024. And AfD leader Tino Chrupalla insisted on attending the celebration marking the end of World War II at the Russian Embassy in Berlin on May 9 two years ago. All this led to accusations that the AfD was a mouthpiece for the Kremlin, and that the party that presents itself as patriotic was actually selling out German interests.

Now, however, a different line is emerging. Before this year's Russia victory celebrations, the AfD parliamentary group leadership, including co-leader Chrupalla, expressly advised against participating, according to sources within the group. The group leadership also warned MPs that they would need to obtain approval for travel to Russia or Belarus and made it clear that this would be strictly enforced, according to participants.

Such trips were supposed to be coordinated beforehand, but some parliamentary group members weren't particularly interested. Apparently, Chrupalla and his co-chair, Alice Weidel, are tired of being surprised by their MPs' Russia expeditions and the resulting negative headlines. "Until now, Tino Chrupalla had extended a protective umbrella over the pro-Russians," says one parliamentary group member.

AfD MPs like Rüdiger Lucassen, who have long been more critical of Putin's war, even claim to have perceived a fundamental shift in mood. "Many AfD MPs are currently normalizing their view of Russia. The realists in the AfD are gaining ground," the AfD parliamentary group's defense policy spokesman told the Süddeutsche Zeitung . Russia is simply not the "misunderstood victim" that some would like to see it. Russia, like all major powers, is a state with geopolitical interests that must, of course, be taken into account, says the former Bundeswehr colonel. And with regard to the parliamentary group: "Supporters of a Russia-critical line are increasingly coming out of hiding." However, it is not to be expected that the AfD will now resort to fiery criticism of Putin. Chrupalla made this clear in a statement in the Bundestag last week. The AfD remains opposed to arms deliveries to Ukraine, believes in a diplomatic solution with warlord Vladimir Putin , and calls for a lifting of sanctions against Russia. However, several parliamentary group members say that the Russian president is currently not presenting a good image for the AfD narrative that Putin actually wants peace, but Kyiv and the West are standing in the way. The cancellation of a meeting with the Ukrainian president last week in Istanbul and the refusal to agree to a ceasefire all contradict this narrative. There's not much to gain with voters by aligning with Russia at the moment, the parliamentary group says.

The process of reflection is also reflected in the parliamentary group's personnel. Bystron's successor as foreign policy spokesperson, Matthias Moosdorf from Saxony, lost to several competitors in a close vote within the parliamentary group last week and will no longer even sit on the Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee. Moosdorf, too, represented the pro-Putin line. The cellist took up an honorary professorship at a music academy in Moscow last fall, despite all criticism, even from within his own party. Under his and Bystron's leadership, the AfD foreign policy committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee, attracted attention with a flood of papers that sought to introduce Moscow's worldview into the Bundestag in the form of parliamentary group motions .

The new foreign policy spokesperson will be Bundestag member Markus Frohnmaier, AfD co-leader in Baden-Württemberg. His election raises the question of how sincere this more critical stance towards Moscow is – and to what extent it is a facade. Frohnmaier has repeatedly had close contacts with Putin's power apparatus; in 2019, for example, he visited his "International Economic Forum" in Russian-occupied Crimea and said in a television interview that one must now accept that the peninsula is Russian. A Russian strategy paper for the Kremlin, which was made public in 2019, suggests possible Russian support for Frohnmaier in the 2017 federal election campaign. According to Der Spiegel , Frohnmaier appears in the paper with the assessment that he will be "a member of the Bundestag under absolute control."

Frohnmaier has learned from his mistakes and hasn't attracted attention any more, according to sources within the AfD parliamentary group. But does he take a more critical stance toward Russia than his predecessors? What does he say today about the Moscow strategy paper? Dealing with Russia must be "confident and at the same time sober," Fohnmaier writes in response to a query. Diplomatic channels of communication must be kept open. But: "Anyone who operates against Germany or its allies – for example, through cyberattacks or influence operations – must expect a decisive response." Regarding the strategy paper, Frohnmaier writes that he is not responsible for the "alleged or actual plans or claims of any Russians." The whole thing happened a long time ago.