The AfD invited Zelenskyy’s former spokesperson, Iuliia Mendel, to the German Bundestag. The Greens believe she is a traitor to Ukraine who is spreading Russian propaganda.
Mendel was press secretary to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but resigned before the war broke out. She is now a vocal critic of him, but denies that she has acted in Russia’s interests.
Zelensky’s former press secretary wants Ukraine to capitulate
She recently attended an AfD event in the Bundestag, and this has drawn strong criticism from the Greens, writes Die Welt.
The Greens’ parliamentary leader, Irene Mihalic, told Rheinische Post that it was quite simply repugnant.
“This behaviour speaks volumes about the AfD’s political agenda.”
She went on to say that Mendel is engaging in “pure victim-blaming, and the AfD is only too happy to use this propaganda for its pro-Russian submarine campaign in the German parliament”.
“Mendel is whitewashing a criminal act whilst pretending that the hostage must give up resistance so that The hostage situation must come to an end. This distortion is quite simply repugnant and has no place in the German Bundestag.”
Mihalic believes appropriate security measures should have been put in place.
‘I simply believe that we must scrutinise carefully who turns up here in the Bundestag. For example, I have serious concerns when people accused of high treason by a friendly country turn up.”
The Bundestag administration will not comment on the specific case, but states in general terms:
“Any ongoing sanctions cases in third countries are not usually relevant to the Bundestag’s security vetting.”
