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Canceled AfD trip to the Donbass: when three right

2022-09-30T10:42:16.754Z


Three AfD members of the state parliament wanted to travel to the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. They broke off their trip – now they have explained themselves to the federal executive board of the AfD.


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AfD politician Tillschneider

Photo: Hauke-Christian Dittrich/ DPA

It was a trip that caused outrage even in parts of the AfD.

Hans-Thomas Tillschneider and Daniel Wald, members of the state parliament from Saxony-Anhalt, and Christian Blex, member of the state parliament from North Rhine-Westphalia, wanted to visit Russian-occupied areas in the Ukrainian Donbass this week.

But the trip, which initially led through Russia, was canceled.

Even in the pro-Russian party, the protest was too big.

After all, the trip to eastern Ukraine would have taken place at a time when the sham referendums for union with Russia were being held there.

Chrupalla's phone call

In the North Rhine-Westphalian AfD parliamentary group, the process even led to the expulsion of their MP Blex, who is also a member of the state executive board, this week.

The trip occupied the AfD leadership for days.

The two party leaders, Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel, asserted that they were not informed of the plan in advance.

Chrupalla finally phoned Blex and Tillschneider and both pointed out the damage they were doing to the party with their plan.

The trip was then aborted, and finally the federal executive asked the three parliamentarians to explain themselves in writing by this Friday.

That has now happened.

The e-mails from the three members of the state parliament to the board, which SPIEGEL has received, are in part letters of defense, mainly from Blex and Tillschneider.

Both are well-known figures in the party. Last year, Tillschneider was classified as a right-wing extremist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, partly because he maintains close contacts with the right-wing extremist Identitarian Movement.

At federal party conferences, such as last summer in Riesa, Saxony, Blex and Tillschneider are regularly among those forces that stand out in the application debates - among other things, to move the party even further to the right.

So far, there have been many assumptions about the trip.

Were the three already in the Donbass?

At least it is clear from Tillschneider's letter that the tour group actually reached Russia.

During a stopover in Istanbul, where the group briefly had internet access, they read a tweet from the Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk about their trip, which "didn't pay much attention to because this person was known for his shrill tones."

Only after landing in Sochi, Russia, did they briefly have internet access again at the airport and received the decision of the federal executive board that “all statements to the media should be coordinated with the federal executive board”.

The day after, after a conversation with party leader Chrupalla during the train journey from Sochi to Rostov-on-Don, Blex finally decided, after consultation with the other members of the delegation, "to break off the journey and not to travel any further to the Donbass."

Blex claims that he had no intention of taking part in the "accession referendums".

"I was not aware that such events were to take place this week and only became public later," he writes to the AfD board.

Opponents of Tillschneider and Co. within the party told SPIEGEL this week that the trip was also used for self-marketing and self-aggrandizement and was even a document of hubris.

In fact, a passage by Tillschneider now reads exactly like this: “The people in Russia and especially in the Donbass, who, left alone by the international community, have been at the mercy of the terror of the Ukrainian nationalists since 2014, have placed a lot of hope in the journey.” They "deeply regretted" having left these people alone.

"We would have wished that the federal executive board would at least allow the trip and communicated it as a faction issue, which it is," says Tillschneider.

Tillschneider claims that he did not inform the federal executive in advance, but not with "evil intentions to conceal it, but simply because it never occurred to me to report the trip of a parliamentary group to the federal executive of the party," he writes.

Who paid?

However, he openly communicated my plans in political talks to his Saxony-Anhalt state chairman Martin Reichardt and a number of other people "who crossed my path at this time, although nobody saw a problem with this trip".

A question that also revolves around the trip: Who paid for it?

The Saxony-Anhalt AfD MP Daniel Wald writes that Tillschneider had explained to him that the parliamentary group committee welcomed the trip and "with a corresponding decision financially bears the flight and accommodation costs".

Other fixed and subsistence costs, "as well as non-reimbursable costs should be paid as personal contributions".

Wald shifts the responsibility largely to the other two passengers: "But the conception and organization of the trip was taken care of by Dr.

Hans-Thomas Tillschneider in dialogue with Dr.

Christian Blex wound up.”

Parts of Tillschneider's letter to the federal executive board are similar to Wald's statements with regard to the question of costs.

However, the parliamentary group leader expressly emphasizes: “No costs should be borne by the Russian side!”

Advice on regulatory measures

Blex, on the other hand, claims that he prepared the trip of his own accord and "received the necessary invitation to issue a visa through a Russian aid organization."

He took care of the issuance of the visa himself and, after making an appointment at the visa center in Bonn, had it issued for a fee, personally bearing the costs for the trip to Berlin and the issuance of the visa.

The same applies to the costs during the trip, both for travel, accommodation and meals: “For organizational reasons alone, the booking of the flight tickets was carried out uniformly by the AfD parliamentary group in the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt, which disbursed the costs for this.

I'll definitely wear them," writes Blex.

"The costs were not borne by state or private organizations or individuals, in particular no costs were borne by the Russian side," according to his affidavit.

“I did not receive any monetary benefits or other benefits,” he adds.

Next Tuesday, the AfD federal board is expected to deal with the trip of the three AfD politicians again.

It is possible that regulatory measures - such as a complaint - will also be discussed, it is said.

For one of the travelers, the public excitement seems to have paid off anyway.

Although Tillschneider admits that he "underestimated the explosiveness and the media coverage of this trip", "we do not see any damage to the party".

It has been an "experience" since the AfD was founded in 2013 that "it is no harm to the party if the mainstream press seethes with anger".

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-09-30

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