Cypriot non-attached Member of the European Parliament Fidias Panayiotou will visit Moscow on Friday — the same day as Vladimir Putin’s “Victory Day” celebrations — along with other EU lawmakers from Germany’s Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) and Slovakia’s SMER.
Such visits to Russia by European politicians are controversial and come after the influencer and blogger Panayiotou last year declared it was “crazy and inhumane” of European politicians to keep supporting Kyiv when it would never win on the battlefield.
The Cypriot, who has caused a stir in the Parliament and in the U.S. with his online bromance with Elon Musk, “is not going to go to the military parade but he got the opportunity to go to Russia, and yes, he is going there,” one of his advisors told POLITICO.
“He says that we have to talk to the Russians, that we have to exercise diplomacy. He got the opportunity to go, and he is now going to practice it,” the advisor added. “He goes on the adventure to document what he sees.”
The advisor said the visit was organized by non-attached German lawmaker Michael von der Schulenburg, close to Panayiotou, and other MEPs belonging to the Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), an offshoot movement from Die Linke, Germany’s traditional leftist party. As Brussels Playbook reported, BSW’s MEP Ruth Firmenich is attending too.
Earlier on Thursday, Panayiotou posted a video of himself and other MEPs claiming to be “voices for peace.”
“We can only reach peace by talking with each other and to try to find compromises. This is what diplomacy is about,” he said, seemingly criticizing the EU mainstream diplomatic stance on Russia.
Firmenich, BSW’s Fabio De Masi and another eight MEPs appeared in the video.
Other MEPs going include some from Slovak ruling party SMER, whose Prime Minister Robert Fico is also in attendance.
Political blowback is likely.
“I think everyone needs to weigh up their responsibilities seriously and understand how their actions could impact our efforts and be interpreted, and used,” European Parliament President Roberta Metsola warned during the plenary on Wednesday.
“With Ukrainians still fighting for their freedom, I would urge you all to tread carefully,” she added.
Metsola was responding to the chair of Renew Europe group and French President Emmanuel Macron’s right-hand in the Parliament, Valérie Hayer, who on Wednesday urged Metsola to ensure no Parliament money goes into paying for the trips to Moscow.
Panayiotou started his career as an influencer, with millions of followers across TikTok, YouTube and X, before winning the highest number of votes among Cypriot candidates for the European Parliament in last summer’s elections.
A Parliament spokesperson said that MEPs travelling to Moscow “do so in a personal capacity” and added that they need to declare their participation in the Parliament’s public registry “if expenses covered by a third party.”
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