Russian diaspora in Germany rallies against sanctions, Ukraine
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Loading... - Christina Edward
- 05 Sep 2022
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Around 2,000 predominantly Russian-speaking protestors held a rally in Cologne on Sunday to demand that Germany stop supporting Ukraine and lift sanctions imposed after Russia's invasion of its neighbor in February.
The rally, organized by Russian-speaking diaspora groups in the city, was met by a few dozen counter-protesters who had also gathered in the shadow of Cologne's hulking Gothic cathedral to express support for Ukraine.
Germany is home to some 3 million people of Russian ethnic background, many of them heavily exposed to Kremlin narratives about the world via state-controlled Russian television, which is widely available.
"Germany is in chaos," said Elena Kolbasnikova, an organizer, repeating President Vladimir Putin’s assertion that Russia's invasion protects Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine.
"How will we survive this winter?"
Though Germany's Russian diaspora is vast, there have been relatively few pro-Putin rallies since the start of the war.
Many of Sunday's protesters held Russian flags or banners with the letters NATO, the trans-Atlantic military alliance, crossed out with a red line. Read More…
