Overview
- Alice Weidel criticized planned travel to Russia, said she would not go or recommend it, and announced plans to tighten the AfD’s travel rules for lawmakers.
- Tino Chrupalla said on Markus Lanz that Russia is no danger for Germany and that Putin had done nothing to him, drawing rebukes from AfD defense MPs as party officials called the timing a misunderstanding because the show was recorded earlier.
- Internal exchanges have grown hostile, with factions hurling labels like “Westextremisten” and “Russenstusser,” and talk of an “open declaration of war” after Weidel’s critique, according to Spiegel reporting.
- Travel plans are splitting the party as Saxony leader Jörg Urban attends a BRICS‑Europe event in Sochi, Steffen Kotré proceeds with an approved trip despite criticism, and Rainer Rothfuß has withdrawn.
- A pro‑Russia bloc faces heightened scrutiny, with Matthias Moosdorf fined over Moscow contacts and media allegations about Maximilian Krah’s Russia links—which he denies—while a senior MP has questioned Weidel’s reliability as leader.