Tino Chrupalla is a politician of the right-wing Alternative for Germany party. He has been a Member of the Bundestag since 2017. Since 2019, Chrupalla has functioned as chairman and lead spokesman for the AfD. Politicians from the far-right Alternative for Germany party often voted in solidarity with Moscow’s position. Tino Chrupalla, the co-chair of AfD, visited Russia multiple times, encountering Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister. Chrupalla also talked against anti-Russian sanctions and military support for Ukraine even after 24 February.
When the Russian invasion of Ukraine occurred one and a half years later, he stated “This war also has several fathers. … Of course, the role of NATO and the role of the federal government of Germany must also be discussed here.” However, he never criticized Russia and Putin. Moreover, Chrupalla has voiced resistance against restrictions on Chinese technology and supported Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang on his peace-brokering measures for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Tino Chrupalla traveled to Moscow twice before the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. In December 2020, he talked to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Six months later, Chrupalla journeyed to Moscow again to attend a Russian Ministry of Defence conference. At the time, Russia was gathering troops on the Ukrainian border. Chrupalla voiced no criticism of Russia’s actions but instead endorsed dropping the sanctions against Russia
In October, the AfD’s co-chair, Alice Weidel, argued that the “main loser” of the conflict was “neither Russia nor Ukraine but Germany,” which she dubbed the victim of an “economic war.” In the same interview, she criticized the West for “reflexively supporting Ukraine’s maximalist demands,” denied any form of German involvement, and demanded the government focus on reinstating the supply of Russian natural gas to protect Germany’s economy. Six weeks later, Wiedel’s co-chair, Tino Chrupalla, folded down on that position in a lengthy statement in which he said that “American presidents were war criminals, too” while simultaneously refusing to call Putin a war criminal “because I am not in a position to judge his actions.”
Moreover, Tino Chrupalla, asserted in a video interview that the US was at least partially accountable for the war and that it was the conflict’s main exploiter. Chrupalla suggested that the US was involved in bombing the Nord Stream pipeline and is also cited as saying, ‘The Americans are fighting on Ukraine territory until the last Ukrainian is dead.’ This narrative seeks to weaken support for the US and the West among Germans, causing the US to be the aggressor and Russia to have no choice other than to defend itself.
