German MP urged to resign over helicopter deal with Russia

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig Photo: AXEL HEIMKEN/AFP

Regional leader in Germany faces renewed calls to leave resigned after it was revealed she was promoting a deal with a German company to sell parts for helicopters and drones to Russia.

Recently released documents say Manuela Schwesig, head of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, visited Denisa Manturova, Russia's Minister of Industry, in Moscow in 2018 to promote the joint venture.

Ms Schwesig, former leader of Chancellor Olof Scholz's Social Democrats, has previously faced questions about her relationship with Gazprom, Russian state gas monopoly.

Luratec, a German company based in Mecklenburg-West, where Ms. Schwesig is based. Pomerania has been selling parts to Russian Helicopters, a subsidiary of the pro-Kremlin weapons manufacturer, despite the fact that its head, Sergei Chemezov, is under EU sanctions.

Mr. Manturov's deputy also visited Rostock, where both companies were supposed to develop unmanned helicopter drone. This arrangement was concluded after the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 and the first invasion of Ukraine.

In 2017, the German economy ministry even received a €100,000 (£86,000) grant from the European Regional Development Fund for the project, with Ms Schwesig's office approvingly describing the “direct contacts” established between Russia and her state.< /p >

Later, state participation in the project was frozen due to unacceptable agreement conditions, but cooperation on the VRT-300 drone between Luratec and VR Technologies, a subsidiary of the Russian Helicopters holding, continued, according to the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

Ms Schwesig has come under fire since it was revealed that she worked with Gazprom to set up a fake environmental NGO to promote the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which was supposed to deliver millions of meters of gas to the Baltic coastal state. directly from Russia.

Germany has postponed Nord Stream 2 ahead of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The pipeline was blown up by unknown saboteurs in September 2022.

Friedrich Merz of the opposition CDU called on Schwesig to resign this March, describing the flood of revelations of collaboration with the Russian state as “an incredible precedent” and her resignation as ” long overdue.”

The centre-left SPD has long been criticized for its ties to Russia. former chancellor Gerhard Schröder, a close friend of Vladimir Putin, is now on the board of Gazprom.

Mr Scholz promised a “Zeitenwende” or a turning point in German defense and security policy after the Russian invasion of Ukraine . .