Russia Putin confidant calls AfD "hope for the Germans"
Kirill Dmitriev, the Kremlin envoy responsible for Russia's economic relations with foreign countries, has celebrated the AfD's high approval ratings in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
16.05.2026, 13:04
16.05.2026, 13:05
SDA
"The AfD has become a HOPE for the Germans," he commented on a survey result published by AfD leader Alice Weidel on the X platform. According to this survey by Infratest dimap, the party is well ahead of the competition with 36% of the vote.
Dmitriev is a close confidant of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin. As Putin's chief negotiator in the Ukraine war, he primarily advocated an improvement in relations with the US government under President Donald Trump, while repeatedly lashing out at Europe and Kiev.
For the parliamentary secretary of the SPD in the Bundestag, Dirk Wiese, the announcement from the Kremlin "clearly shows what an ominous alliance is working together to abolish the European Union and our democracy", as he told the German Press Agency.
"You can see: Anyone who votes AfD will wake up in Putin's Russia at some point. Then it will no longer be the Federal Chancellor who has the authority to issue directives, but the war criminal Vladimir Putin. The AfD is Putin's Trojan horse on the continent."
This is not the first time that Dmitriev has publicly supported the AfD. The party is the most popular in Germany because it stands "against uncontrolled immigration, lies and censorship", he wrote last October in view of the poll results at the time.
Elections will be held in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony and Berlin in September. In the two eastern German states, the AfD is by far the strongest party in the polls, but would not have any coalition partners as things stand.
