Russian President Vladimir Putin has defended meetings of Russian representatives with members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, some factions of which have been classified as far-right extremist.
"We will cooperate with all those who want to cooperate with Russia," Putin said on Wednesday at a press conference with major international news agencies, including dpa, in St Petersburg. "We see no signs of neo-Nazism in the actions of the AfD," the Kremlin leader added.
On a past visit to Moscow, AfD co-chairman Tino Chrupalla was received by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov like a state guest.
While Russia and the AfD did not maintain "systemic relations," Moscow would support anyone in favour of normal ties with Russia, Putin said.
The state-level AfD party in Germany's eastern state of Thuringia - as well as in the neighbouring states of Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt - have been designated as far-right extremist groups.
On a national level, the German opposition party has been classified as suspected right-wing extremist by the domestic intelligence agency.
The AfD had been polling nationally at around 20%, amid dissatisfaction with Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-party coalition, but according to a recent survey, support has dropped to under 16% after a series of scandals - including allegations it plans to repatriate migrants on a large scale.
At the presser in St Petersburg, Putin said it wasn't up to Russia to judge whether a political force was moving within the realm of the constitution.
"But we don't see anything that would cause us concern," he said regarding the AfD.
In Germany, representatives of alternative viewpoints are immediately declared enemies of the state, claimed Putin, who has been cracking down on political opponents and independent media for a long time.
"Every alternative point of view is taken as an anti-state stance. And everyone is immediately appointed as an agent of the Kremlin," the Russian president said of Berlin.
Wednesday's press conference took place at the staggeringly tall Lakhta Centre skyscraper owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom as part of the 27th edition of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. With the meeting, Moscow is attempting to present itself as a stable economic power despite Western sanctions.
The presser, which saw the Russian president directly taking questions from foreign media representatives, was the first of its kind since the war in Ukraine began in 2022.