The AfD and left-wing deputies boycott Zelensky during his visit to the German Bundestag

Several deputies from far-right parties Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the leftist alliance BSW boycotted this Tuesday in Berlin the speech before Parliament of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyin protest of the ruling coalition’s support for the kyiv government.

Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupallaco-leaders of the AfD group, published a statement mocking the Ukrainian leader – who had earlier attended a conference on reconstruction – as a “belligerent president and a beggar” and questioning its legitimacy. Although some of the AfD’s 77 members were present in the Bundestag to hear Zelensky speak, most remained on the sidelines, along with the 10 BSW lawmakers.

“The government should not give you a voice to beg for reconstruction,” Weidel and Chrupalla wrote. “Ukraine does not need a president of war now, it needs a president of peace who is willing to negotiate so that the agony ends and the country has a future.”

Sahra Wagenknecht, co-founder of the BSW in January after splitting from the Left party, accused Zelensky of “contributing to a very dangerous spiral of escalation.” A separate statement from the party said she was “accepting the risk of a nuclear conflict with devastating consequences for all of Europe.” “The German government must use its influence on Zelensky to get him to agree to peace talks,” according to the BSW statement. “Wars are not ended with weapons, they are ended with peace negotiations.”

The two parties’ arguments echo some of the arguments promoted by the Kremlin, and both have been accused by critics of being too soft on the Russian president. Vladimir Putin.

German authorities stated last month that they are investigating Petr Bystron, an AfD lawmaker, for alleged corruption and money laundering linked to Russia. Bystron, second on the party’s list for the European Parliament elections, has denied accusations of receiving money from a pro-Moscow Czech media outlet. Friedrich Merz, president of the opposition Christian Democrats, described the actions of the AfD and BSW as “authentic nadir in our parliamentary culture”.

“I’m quite shocked”, Merz told reporters. “The claim that we have to try to end this war with more diplomacy is completely baseless,” he added. “The offer has been made and Russia rejected it and in Germany these two parties, the AfD and the BSW, continue to claim the opposite.”

Although Wagenknecht was previously a member of The Left, some of his new party’s populist policies, including calls for a tougher line on immigrationhave attracted voters frustrated with mainstream parties who might otherwise support the AfD, especially in eastern Germany, where she is from.

A poll for public broadcaster ZDF published in April showed that 42% of respondents supported an expansion of NATO allies’ support for Ukraine, while 31% thought it should remain at the same level.