After the death of Alexey Navalny
AfD leader Chrupalla: Speech by Navalny’s widow “staging”
The AfD federal chairman and parliamentary group leader Tino Chrupalla wants to wait for the Russian authorities to investigate the Alexey Navalny case. photo
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
After the death of the Russian opposition figure, Chrupalla does not want to condemn the Russian government. He calls the speech by Navalny’s widow in Munich a “staging”.
AfD leader Tino Chrupalla makes accusations against the Russian government Death of opposition activist Alexei Navalny deemed premature. In Berlin, he described his widow’s speech at the Munich Security Conference as a “staging.”
It is truly remarkable that Yulia Navalnaya was the first to speak at the Munich Security Conference after her husband’s death, said Khrupalla. This “production” offers food for thought. “When I see Mr. Navalny’s widow with Ursula von der Leyen,” I have to ask myself who would benefit from such an appearance. It is obvious that Navalny’s death was “exploited”.
Russia rejected Germany’s call to investigate the Kremlin critic’s death as interference in internal affairs. Navalny died on Friday at the age of 47 in a prison camp in northern Siberia.
“I find it sometimes unbearable how it has already been clear in the last few days who is to be held responsible for this death. People talk about murder, about other things, even though they don’t know anything, even though they haven’t even waited for the investigation,” he said AfD chairwoman.
Chrupalla, who leads the AfD party and faction together with Alice Weidel, drew criticism last May after attending a reception at the Russian embassy despite Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine.
The AfD group sees no reason to take a position
For his part, the parliamentary managing director of the AfD parliamentary group, Bernd Baumann, currently sees no reason to take a position on responsibility for the death. When asked, he said: “We can’t say anything about the causes and background yet.” Navalny’s death is “horrific and saddening”, but the AfD faction is “not an investigative authority”. In general, it is clear that Russia is not a democracy or a constitutional state “in the Western sense”.
After the news of the Kremlin critic’s death on Friday, only their human rights policy spokesman, Jürgen Braun, initially commented on the AfD faction’s ranks. He said: “I demand from the Russian state a complete and transparent investigation into the circumstances of his death with the participation of independent observers.”