Most of the parliamentarians from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) – the second most voted party in the country in the European elections – and from the populist alliance of Sahra Wagenknecht (Bsw) they boycotted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech to the Bundestag. In the chamber there were only four of the 77 from the AfD and none from the BSW, reports the DPA agency with respect to the two political forces opposed to military aid to Kiev.
“We refuse to listen to a speaker in camouflage,” said AfD co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla. “The government should not provide him with a platform to beg for reconstruction. Citizens are paying more than enough for military aid, “EU aid and subsidies” for Ukrainian refugees.
Even BSW, recently born from a split of Linke, lashed out against Zelensky, accused of “contributing to promoting a very dangerous spiral of escalation” and of “accepting the risk of a nuclear conflict with devastating consequences for the whole of Europe”. .
Zelensky’s intervention
In his speech to the Bundestag, interrupted several times by applause, Zelensky said that “it is It is in our common interest that Putin personally loses this war“. “Russia must pay for all the damage caused by this aggression,” he said, thanking Germany for its support. The Ukrainian leader, who entered the chamber with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, was optimistic about the prospect of the peace conference on Ukraine to be held in Switzerland on 15 and 16 June.
“We want to give democracy a chance – he said, also in the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz – Ukraine has never relied exclusively on the strength of its weapons”.
Zelensky also stressed that “a divided Europe has never been peaceful. And a divided Germany has never been happy. And that’s why you can understand us Ukrainians.” “You can understand why we are fighting so hard against Russia’s attempts to divide us, to divide Ukraine – he continued – Because we are doing everything, really everything, not to allow a wall between areas of our country. No country should be condemned to have barbed wire tearing his body apart for decades.”
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