Ex-Kazakhstani advocates for the rights of Russian-speaking Germans in Bundestag
Eugen Schmidt has been a member of the far-right German political party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD, Alternative for Germany) since 2016. Last Sunday, the party took second place in the German parliamentary elections. In the Bundestag, Schmidt advocates for the interests of the Russian-speaking population, calls for lifting sanctions against Russia, and supports recognizing Crimea as part of Russia. He is a frequent guest on Russian talk shows.
According to data published on the Bundestag’s website, Schmidt was born on Oct. 23, 1975, in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan. In 1997, he graduated from East Kazakhstan University, where he studied IT. In 1999, he moved to Germany as a person of German descent. Before joining AfD in 2016, he worked as an IT specialist in various German companies. In 2021, Schmidt became a member of the German parliament.
In the Bundestag, he is a member of the Committee on Digital Issues and the Committee on Foreign Affairs. He also serves as the AfD’s ombudsman for Russian-speaking Germans and represents the party on digital policy issues. Additionally, he chairs the Germany-Central Asia parliamentary group.
His party – AfD – advocates for the deportation of «unassimilated» citizens to Africa, the lifting of Russia sanctions and strongly opposes the idea of a united Europe.
In the fall of 2024, some members of the Bundestag proposed banning AfD, but the initiative failed to gain support. Furthermore, in the parliamentary elections on February 23, AfD came in second after the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU).
Commenting on the election results, Schmidt said CDU and AfD will likely form a coalition.
«CDU has won the elections and we will likely establish a coalition with Chancellor Friedrich Merz. However, it is more than unlikely that the leader of that coalition, Merz, will be able to solve the most acute problems our country faces — first of all, the migration crisis. The only power that can provide real change is AfD,» he wrote on Telegram.
In February 2024, Der Spiegel and The Insider conducted a joint investigation, accusing Vladimir Sergienko, an aide of Schmidt, of having ties with an FSB officer. Sergienko denied all accusations.
Later, Schmidt confirmed that Sergienko was no longer his aide.
«A campaign targeting Sergienko in the media prevented him from continuing his work,» the politician said.
In June, some German media outlets reported that the Berlin court revoked Sergienko’s German citizenship, stating that he had obtained it under false pretenses by hiding his Russian citizenship during the naturalization process.
