Leader of German far-Right AfD party held talks with Russian MPs close to Vladimir Putin

Telegraph - The leader of the far-Right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has held talks in Moscow with Russian MPs close to Vladimir Putin, it has emerged.

کد خبر: ۶۷۰۳۷۸

تاریخ: ۰۴ اسفند ۱۳۹۵ - ۱۶:۳۶

Frauke Petry also met with Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the ultra-hardline nationalist who has called for Russian nuclear strikes against the West in a show of strength.

The meetings come amid growing concern that Mr Putin is seeking to manipulate Western elections in favour of populist parties seen as more favourable to Russia’s interests.

German intelligence has warned Russia may attempt to interfere in elections in the country this September.

Ms Petry’s party, which is currently third in the polls, has attacked Angela Merkel for her stance over Ukraine and called for warmer relations with Russia.

The AfD leader met with Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Duma, Russia’s parliament, and his deputy Pyotr Tolstoy on Monday.

Both are members of the ruling United Russia party and considered close to Mr Putin.

But while Ms Petry’s office announced the meeting to the German press, it chose not to include the fact that Mr Zhirinovsky was also present.

Mr Zhirinovsky, the head of the Liberal Democratic party, last year called for Russia to launch a nuclear strike on the Faroe Islands and wipe out its population of 200,000 people as a show of strength.

"We should show what our nuclear forces are capable of,” he said.

In 2008, when relations between the UK and Russia were strained, he suggested dropping a nuclear bomb in the Atlantic to cause major flooding in Britain. Ms Petry was in Moscow as a guest of the Russian government.

"During the meeting they discussed issues of cooperation between regional parliaments, inter-party cooperation, and the development of contacts between youth organizations,” the Duma said in a statement.

But the meeting will raise fears that Russia is seeking to influence Western elections.

In January, US intelligence agencies issued a statement saying they had strong evidence Mr Putin personally ordered a campaign to influence the presidential election in favour of Donald Trump.

Russian tactics are said to include hacking the computers of candidates and parties Mr Putin does not favour and spreading fake news about them via social media.

In France, Russia has been accused of interfering in the presidential election in favour of Marine Le Pen, the Front National candidate.

Ms Le Pen appeared at a joint rally with Ms Petry in Germany last month.

The anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim AfD inflicted a series of damaging defeats on Mrs Merkel in German regional elections

But the party has seen its support in the polls plunge five points to around 10 per cent in recent weeks, amid internal rows and the emergence of the centre-left Martin Schulz as the main challenger to Mrs Merkel in September’s elections.