International conference against anti-Russian EU sanctions

In February, AfD leader, Frauke Petry had traveled to Moscow to “speak at the invitation of the district government of Moscow about cooperation with the Landtags of the federal [German] states”.

Her party in the Saxon state parliament or Landtag, continues to promote cooperation between European states. Unzensuriert.at reported exclusively from this high-profile event, under the heading Beendigung der Wirtschaftssanktionen gegen Russland [End economic sanctions against Russia].

In the Saxon mining town of Freiberg, the deputy chairman of the Foreign Committee in the Russian Duma, Alexander Yushchenko, was one of the speakers. In addition to prominent AfD representatives, other European politicians of patriotic partner parties were also present.

Among the members of the Austrian FPÖ were Detlef Wimmer, Federal Councilor Hans-Jörg Jenewein and Wolfgang Jung, Vienna’s parliamentarian. Frank Creyelman from the Belgian Vlaams Belang, who served as an election observer during the Crimean referendum in 2014, and the Italian Lega Nord’s Fabrizio Ricca and Gianluca Savoini were invited. Savoini is chairman of a Pro-Russian association in Italy, the “Associazione Culturale Lombardia Russia”.

The chairman of the Czech party “Freedom and Direct Democracy”, Tomio Okamura and Romanian MEP Laurentiu Rebega from the patriotic ENF Group, were also guests.

Jenewein pointed out that sanctions had had serious economic consequences for Austria: Some 50 000 jobs had depended on trade between the two countries. He also criticized the EU’s extremely cynical attitude towards Russia on human rights issues, which were repeatedly called a justification for the sanctions. He said while the EU had no problem to negotiate and conclude agreements with a questionable state such as Turkey, they continually pointed fingers at Russia. “And then we allow ourselves to preach to Russia on how to regulate its own internal affairs. This is extremely cynical,” Jenewein said.

Russian deputy Yushenko recalled the Wall in Berlin. “It is very important that the German people keep in mind that new walls should never be built,” he said, commenting on current developments in the Merkel government’s relationship with his home country.

Jörg Urban, deputy chairman of the AfD in the Saxon Landtag, expressed his support for the partnership between his state and Russia. The AfD had been critically opposed to the sanctions from the outset. Urban noted the unbalanced EU deal with the parties to the Ukraine conflict: “The sanctions [against Russia] by the EU are regularly renewed, while Ukraine continues to receive financial and military support.”

Manuel Ochsenreiter, regular FWM contributor who had founded the “German Center for Eurasian Studies” (DZES) in Berlin, in co-operation with Polish lawyer Mateusz Piskorski and Russian Leonid Savin, also attended.