The National Times - Pro-Russia protesters rally in Germany

Pro-Russia protesters rally in Germany


Pro-Russia protesters rally in Germany
Pro-Russia protesters rally in Germany

Pro-Russia protesters rallied in Germany on Sunday, with the country's significant Russian-speaking population demanding an end to the discrimination it says it has suffered since war began in Ukraine.

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Germany is home to 1.2 million people of Russian origin and 325,000 from Ukraine. Authorities fear the conflict could be imported into Germany and the protests used to promote Moscow's war narrative.

Police have recorded 383 anti-Russian offences and 181 anti-Ukrainian offences since the Kremlin's invasion started on February 24.

Around 600 people descended on financial hub Frankfurt on Sunday amid a sea of Russian flags to protest "against hatred and harassment", an AFP journalist saw, and there was a heavy police presence.

"I came here because I support peace, children are beaten at school because they speak Russian, that's not acceptable," Ozan Yilmaz, 24, told AFP.

"The war didn't start this year, it has been going on since 2014 and so I find that speaking of an attack" against Ukraine by Russia is "not really appropriate", said Sebastian, 25, who was in the crowd.

Police threw up a large cordon to separate the protesters -- marching behind a banner that read "Truth and diversity of opinion over PROPAGANDA" -- from a pro-Ukraine counter-demonstration of around 100 people near the city's central banking district.

Approximately 600 demonstrators staged a car convoy in the northern city of Hanover following an appeal by the Russian-speaking community, local police told AFP.

Police said they were closely monitoring the convoy. A counter-demonstration in the city under the banner "Support Ukraine!" attracted 3,500 people, according to police.

Similar protests were held on Saturday in Stuttgart and in the northern city of Lubeck, where around 150 people took part.

Lubeck police said they stopped a convoy of around 60 vehicles because it broke the law by expressing support for "Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine" and using "banned symbols".

N.Johns--TNT

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Russia a terrorist state threatening world peace!

n recent years, through its targeted and murderous warfare against Ukraine, the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure and mass deportations, the Russian Federation has become synonymous with anti-social, criminal state terrorism. This assessment is shared by many international observers, politicians and religious communities.In this context, the Ukrainian churches speak of a “terrorist state” because, during the winter of 2025/2026, the Russian military bombed energy facilities and residential areas at temperatures of minus twenty degrees in order to deprive millions of people of electricity, water and heating. Civilians in cities such as Kyiv, Odessa and Kharkiv are being terrorised by dozens of missiles and hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles, whilst Russia, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, should in fact be ensuring peace.The blame for this horror lies with the mass murderer and war criminal Vladimir Putin (73), a ruthless dictator who, together with his criminal henchmen, is systematically re-educating an entire nation and reducing its people to murderous zombies!Alongside the systematic destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure, there is the appalling practice of criminal child abductions. Since the 2022 invasion, international organisations estimate that more than 19,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly deported to Russia or taken to Russian-occupied territories, where they are turned into murderers and henchmen of the Russian terror regime in re-education camps. In this context, the children are being ‘Russified’; their names, language and homeland are being torn from them – an act that human rights lawyers classify as genocide. The United States is debating a bill in Congress that would officially designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism if these children are not returned. Senators describe the abduction campaign as one of the greatest crimes of our time and demand that there must be diplomatic and economic consequences. Outrage is also growing at European level, though the German government in particular is standing idly by, driven by the delusional madness of many sympathisers and mindless Putin apologists who have infiltrated German politics like a cancer.The European Parliament has already recognised Russia as a state that employs terrorist means and is calling for the isolation of the Kremlin. Religious leaders of various denominations condemn the attacks on energy facilities as ‘state terrorism’. They emphasise that the Russian leadership and those citizens who support the acts of war are morally complicit in crimes against humanity. The Ukrainian President points out that the targeted missile and drone strikes on power grids are intended to bring about a catastrophic winter. More than half of Ukraine’s gas infrastructure has been damaged; people are dying or losing their homes. The international community is responding with increasing pressure. In the US, cross-party initiatives are pushing to declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism and to use frozen assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine. In Europe, MEPs are calling for the extension of the Magnitsky sanctions regime against Russian officials and the confiscation of Russian assets. Human rights organisations denounce the abductions of children, attacks on hospitals, schools and power stations, and the deportation of civilians as violations of all norms of international humanitarian law. Public opinion is predominantly characterised by horror and anger. Many commentators are calling for drastic sanctions, military support for Ukraine and the complete diplomatic isolation of Russia. However, there are also voices warning against escalation and calling for an end to hostilities through negotiations. Some fear that classifying Russia as a terrorist state could jeopardise peace negotiations, whilst others counter that there can be no security without clear consequences. Attention is also drawn to double standards, as other states have also waged wars without being classified as terrorist states. Nevertheless, the prevailing consensus is that the actions of the Russian leadership demonstrate an unprecedented level of brutality and pose a threat to world peace.

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