A mayor from Saxony at a ball in Russia: Sven Krüger demonstrates his proximity to Moscow. Criticism hails from the other parties.
Freiberg/St. Petersburg – German politics and society have largely distanced themselves from Russia since the country launched its war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022. But there are exceptions. The mayor of the city of Freiberg in Saxony, Sven Krüger, has a report from the news portal time online reportedly made a trip to Russia. Gave a speech at a ball in St. Petersburg and spoke out in favor of “good cooperation” between Germany and Russia.
Mayor of Saxony goes to Russia to ball: Ukraine war is not mentioned
The non-party Krüger – he left the SPD in 2018 – has confirmed his participation in the Petrovsky Ball, the portal reported on Tuesday (August 29, 2023). There he found a lot of praise for Russia, without mentioning the Ukraine war. According to this, Krüger said at the ball, among other things, that he was an optimist and that’s why he started learning Russian a year ago. And he is convinced that Russia and Germany “will find togetherness again in the future and overcome difficult times”.
Officially, Krüger is “on a private stay in Russia to meet friends, among other things” and to hold talks with St. Petersburg’s Gorny University. The Freiberg city administration announced that he had paid the cost of this trip privately. Krüger is “convinced that the dialogue with Russia and its people must be maintained.”
Freiberg politicians criticize mayor for trip to Russia: “Strange”
The CDU faction leader in Freiberg, Steve Ittershagen, showed up opposite time online “surprised by this trip”. He “wouldn’t have done it in his place: after all, Mr. Krüger represents our city. And it is not appropriate for the Lord Mayor of Russia to go on such a stage and get involved in international affairs.” Freiberg SPD parliamentary group leader Alena Raatz also finds the trip “very strange” and “very dangerous and absolutely not useful.”
When asked by the medium, the mayor of the town of 40,000 inhabitants in the Ore Mountains said he was at the ball at the invitation of organizer Hans-Joachim Frey. Frey has long had close ties to Russia and Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin. The Russian ruler awarded Frey a medal in the spring of this year. On this occasion, Frey had said that he was “on Russia’s side.” In his speech, Krüger thanked the Putin favorite: “Many thanks to you, dear Hajo,” Krüger said in his speech. “It’s great what you’ve done here.”
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