AfD leader Weidel criticizes planned visit to Russia by her party members

Alice Weidel, co-leader of Alternative for Germany (AfD) on Tuesday criticized her party colleagues for agreeing to travel to Russia as the far-right party faces allegations of possible espionage for the Kremlin, The Kyiv Post reports.

Several AfD politicians announced plans to attend a symposium in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi this week, drawing extensive criticism in Germany given Moscow’s hostile relations with the country.

“I cannot understand what they are actually supposed to do there, to put it bluntly,” Weidel told reporters.

Last week, a lawmaker for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s party accused the AfD of harboring a Russian “sleeper cell” in the Bundestag on Wednesday, AFP reported.

Marc Henrichmann, a lawmaker for Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union for Germany (CDU), drew attention to the fact that AfD party members have asked parliamentary questions about arms deliveries to Ukraine, power stations, drone production and army bases in recent months.