Overview
- On ZDF’s Markus Lanz, AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla repeated that Russia is currently no danger to Germany, drew backlash for saying "mir hat Putin nichts getan," and was sharply challenged by Kremlin critic Wladimir Kara-Mursa.
- AfD foreign-policy spokesman Markus Frohnmaier told ARD’s Maischberger that Vladimir Putin does not pose a danger to Germany and defended party contacts with Russia.
- Alice Weidel condemned planned parliamentary travel to a Sochi conference and warned of party consequences up to expulsion; MP Rainer Rothfuß canceled while Steffen Kotré planned to proceed, leaving fewer AfD attendees than initially announced.
- CDU figures escalated criticism, with Norbert Röttgen calling the AfD line "the best propaganda Putin could wish for" and Roderich Kiesewetter labeling the party a "Putinverein" and likening Chrupalla’s stance to a "trojan horse."
- Russian outlets such as RBK and Moskovsky Komsomolez highlighted the leadership split, and German reports indicated that any planned meeting with Dmitri Medvedev tied to the trip was disallowed by AfD parliamentary leaders.