The AfD politician Matthias Moosdorf wants to work for understanding in Russia. However, his party is critical of the commitment.
The leadership of the AfD parliamentary group has criticized the Russia connections of the parliamentary group’s foreign policy spokesman as problematic. Matthias Moosdorf has been working at a music college in Moscow for a few weeks. The Russians are among the world leaders when it comes to classical music, said the First Parliamentary Secretary, Bernd Baumann, to journalists in Berlin. “However, this also has a political component,” he added.
The AfD parliamentary group executive dealt with the issue on Monday. “We are in discussions with Mr. Moosdorf.” He didn’t say what that meant specifically. Just this much: the war in Ukraine was described as a war of aggression and condemned. This is about Russia and classical music.
“But these threads should still be assessed differently here than if it were simply a professorship somewhere abroad. We see a problem there and the discussions are heading in that direction.”
Moosdorf had confirmed that he had had a part-time job as an honorary professor at the internationally known Moscow Gnessin University of Music since September. The cellist wrote in a statement that it was above all a sign of understanding. Music knows no ideological boundaries.
The 59-year-old, who sits in the Bundestag for the Saxon AfD, said he was “privately in Moscow” for three days in September. “I intend to teach chamber music there for several days once a quarter. Contracts for this have not yet been discussed,” he added. He could not see any political orientation of the Gnessin Academy. He’s not interested in her either. The academy is financed by the Russian Ministry of Culture.