Germany’s Green Party has criticised the appearance of Yuliia Mendel, former spokesperson for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at an event held by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the Bundestag.
This was reported by the German outlet Welt.
Irene Mihalic, leader of the Greens’ parliamentary group in the Bundestag, said Mendel’s appearance says a great deal about the AfD’s political agenda.
According to her, Mendel is engaging in “pure victim-blaming”, and the AfD is using these claims in its pro-Russian activities in the German parliament.
Mihalic also called Mendel’s speech an insult to the tens of thousands of people who have suffered as a result of Russian aggression.
“Mendel justifies a crime while pretending that the hostage should stop resisting so that the abduction will end. Such a distortion of the facts is simply disgusting and has no place in the chambers of the German Bundestag,” the politician said.
She added that the Bundestag should carefully vet individuals who are granted access to parliament. According to Mihalic, there is particular concern, for example, in cases where a friendly country accuses invited individuals of treason.
The Bundestag administration declined to comment on the specific case, but said it conducts reliability checks before granting guests access in order to minimise security risks. At the same time, a parliamentary spokesperson noted that ongoing sanctions procedures in third countries usually do not affect such checks.
- The Security Service and the Office of the Prosecutor General have issued a notice of suspicion in absentia to Yuliia Mendel, former press secretary to Volodymyr Zelenskyy. She is suspected of information and subversive activities against Ukraine.
- In May, Mendel gave an interview to the American far-right propagandist and Russophile Tucker Carlson. She claimed that during talks in Istanbul in 2022, Zelenskyy personally agreed to hand over Donbas territory to the Russians. Mendel says she spoke to participants in the negotiations, and that they supposedly “agreed to everything”.