Most German lawmakers from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the upstart populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) boycotted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's speech on Tuesday to Germany's parliament, the Bundestag.
Only four of the AfD's 77 lawmakers turned up in the Bundestag chamber in Berlin ahead of Zelensky's speech after party leaders told them not to attend. None of the 10 members of the BSW showed up, either.
Leaders from mainstream German political parties expressed disgust with both the AfD and the BSW for the stunt.
Both the AfD and BSW have vehemently opposed military aid for Ukraine. A number of AfD members in particular have expressed support for Russia and admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"We refuse to listen to a speaker in a camouflage suit," the AfD's co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla said. "The government should not give him a stage for reconstruction begging. The citizens are paying more than enough for military aid, EU aid and welfare benefits for Ukrainian" refugees.
The AfD leaders claimed that what Ukraine needs is a peace president who is willing to negotiate.
The BSW, which broke away from the hard-left Die Linke (The Left) party and has been campaigning on a platform combining left-wing economic policy with some hard-right stances, also denounced Zelensky.
"Unfortunately, President Zelensky is currently helping to promote a highly dangerous spiral of escalation and is accepting the risk of a nuclear conflict with devastating consequences for the whole of Europe," the party claimed in a statement. "He should therefore not be honoured with a special event in the German Bundestag."
