“No democracy in Germany”: Putin’s propagandist in the Bundestag

In the Russian media, Bundestag member Eugen Schmidt (AfD) portrays Germany as a country in which dissidents are oppressed and persecuted.

In the past few weeks, AfD member of parliament Eugen Schmidt has repeatedly presented Germany in the Russian media as an unjust state in which dissenters are threatened with censorship and physical violence by “the ruling elite” – this is the result of research by the ARD political magazine contrasts.

In an interview published last Sunday on the website of Russian radio Komsomolskaya Pravda, Schmidt stated verbatim: “There is no democracy in Germany. That means a unified opinion is being imposed, by the ruling elite, and all other political opinions are suppressed with all possible means: on the Internet, in the media, including physical attacks on those who think differently.”

He further denies that Germany is a constitutional state, calling it “illusory” to believe that courts in Germany would render fair and lawful judgments. The Schmidt interview was published the day after Russia passed a law making free reporting on the Ukraine war a punishable offense.

At the same time, there are numerous reports of arrests and ill-treatment – including torture – of anti-war demonstrators across Russia. According to a report by the Russian human rights project OVD-Info, around 13,500 people have been arrested in Russia since the Russian attack on Ukraine.

In the service of Russian state propaganda

The political scientist Stefan Meister from the German Society for Foreign Policy (DGAP) emphasized in an interview with contraststhat Schmidt is serving Russian state propaganda with his statements. “Ultimately you are playing into Putin’s hands. And of course Germany is also being discredited in the world and in Russia. It discredits Germany as a democracy and as a country where, unlike Russia, there is a free media,” said Meister.

Interviews with the Russian military broadcaster

Schmidt has also made himself available to be interviewed by the Russian Defense Ministry’s propaganda channel “Zvezda” at least twice recently. On February 25, the second day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Schmidt explained there: “The media in Germany are of course completely controlled by the government. Alternative, oppositional opinions are not represented.”

Russian in the Bundestag

Even before the war began, on February 17, Schmidt ended a Bundestag speech in Russian with the words “Do the Russians want war? No!” (“Хотят ли русские войны? Нет!”). This statement coincided with the statements made by the Kremlin at the time and proved to be helpful for the propaganda of the Russian media, which immediately took up Schmidt’s quote and has quoted it many times since.

Group retreat to clarify attitude to Russia

contrasts was able to meet Eugen Schmidt on the fringes of the AfD parliamentary group’s retreat in Oberhof, Thuringia – but the 46-year-old did not want to answer questions about his statements. Group leader Alice Weidel also did not want to comment on Schmidt’s statements. At their closed meeting this Thursday, the AfD parliamentary group also wants to clarify its relationship with Russia.

Manager of Russian-German AfD networks

The 46-year-old Schmidt originally comes from Kazakhstan. He came to Germany in 1999 as a late repatriate. In 2021 he moved into the Bundestag for the North Rhine-Westphalian AfD. There he acts as “state representative for Russian Germans” and manages the network “Russian Germans in the AfD”.

After contrastsresearch, Schmidt and other AfD officials were involved in founding an association called “Central Council of German-Russian Associations” in 2019. The chairman of the “Central Council” is an AfD functionary who, a few years ago, organized so-called “Lisa demonstrations” because of the alleged rape of a Russian-German girl. The case is considered an exemplary Russian influence operation in Germany and caused a great deal of attention and diplomatic upset at the time.

The “Central Council” – just like the Russian Embassy in Germany and an “international People’s Council of Russian Germans” founded by AfD politicians – is currently calling on social media to report cases of discrimination against Russian speakers in Germany. Eugen Schmidt also warns of increasing “Russophobia” in Germany via social media.

The supposedly necessary protection of the Russian-speaking population there from attacks was also one of the reasons with which the Kremlin tried to justify the attack on Ukraine. A few days ago, Stephan Kramer, President of the Thuringian Office for the Protection of the Constitution, warned tagesschau.de against targeted disinformation campaigns with this motif.

Travel to the Russian-occupied Crimea

Even before he entered the Bundestag, Eugen Schmidt showed a conspicuous proximity to PR campaigns in the interests of the Russian government. Like his current colleague in the Bundestag, Roger Beckamp, ​​he was a member of the first AfD travel groups to the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Russia, in 2018.

The Russian side has invited pro-Kremlin politicians from all over the world for such trips. Their presence was intended to feign international acceptance of the illegal annexation of Crimea and generate propaganda material that could be used by the media. Russian media reported extensively and enthusiastically about the German guests.

AfD strongly present in Russian media

An evaluation of Russian media contrasts has resulted in more than 60 statements by AfD members of the Bundestag in various state and pro-government Russian media since the beginning of the legislative period.