We continue covering the apologists of the lies in the West.
Alexander Rahr has lots of dualities. He is a proud German citizen and yet, his Russian origin was formative for him. He has been a lobbyist since 2014 but he styles himself as a political scientist. He is on mission “to protect the German interest” while being one of the most famous supporters of Putin’s Russia in Germany, besides Gerhard Shroeder, of course.
And here’s his most curious duality: these days Rahr is in radio silence mode after Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine on February 24. Just before that cutoff date, he was a prolific TV commentator both in Russia and Germany with literally hundreds of comments per year on RT (Russia Today) and ZDF. In a mere coincidence, his main messages were always aligned with the messages of the Kremlin.
So, who is Alexander Rahr, a man who built his life and prosperity on Russian connections and money?
Alexander Rahr is a German lobbyist and political scientist/analyst, one of the most prominent Putinversteher (German for one who understands Putin) and Russia’s agent of influence in the West. He was born into a family of Russian immigrants in Taiwan. The family moved to Germany where his dad Gleb Rahr was applying for Russian-speaking jobs in various anti-communist media outlets. His family made sure that Alexander’s mother tongue is Russian. He was raised as an Orthodox Christian with love for Mother Russia, as imperialists like to refer to it.
Alexander graduated from Munich University in 1988. After his education and academic work, he worked as director of the Сenter for Russia and Eurasia at the German Council on Foreign Policy in 1995 to 2012. In 2002, he published a book about Putin with the title The German in the Kremlin. In 2004, he became an honorary professor at MGIMO, Russia’s elite diplomatic academy.
He has been presenting himself in both Germany and Russia as a person close to the Russian leadership and the Russian president, in particular. He is a member of the Valdai Club and Petersburg Dialogue forum, Russia’s notorious soft power tools.
In 2012-2015, he was a lobbyist for Gazprom-linked Wintershall oil and gas company, and a senior adviser to the President of the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce. In 2013, he became deputy chairman of the Council of the Russian Economy in Germany. Since 2015, he has been a Gazprom consultant for EU matters in Brussels.
He spent many years of work to strengthen the Kremlin’s position in the West, to justify Russian aggression, and to became a part of Moscow’s disinformation machine. In his speeches, he tirelessly promotes the views that are extremely favorable to the Kremlin, such as:
- Justifying Vladimir Putin’s dictatorial power.
- Helping pro-government experts and media to use his comments to justify Russia’s aggression in other countries, especially in Syria and Ukraine.
- Exaggerating harm for the EU as a result of the sanctions on Russia.
- Exaggerating Russia’s power and influence to justify the EU’s inaction after Russian annexed Crimea in 2014
Russian propaganda outlets actively use these and many other statements of the “famous German political scientist” Rahr, presenting the statements of this Moscow’s mouthpiece as a mainstream opinion of the Germans. Besides, many German media such as ZDF have been introducing him as a political analyst and not as a Russian lobbyist.
Russia’s scaled-up invasion of Ukraine finally made the situation crystal clear: Russia is the aggressor, and Ukraine is the victim that is trying to defend itself. So, what happened to Alexander Rahr, the golden voice of Putin in Germany, who constantly supported Russia? Why did he keep quiet?
Because of his conscience, or is he just waiting to appear again on TV with an opinion that despite Russia’s war of aggression, the EU should still be friends with Russia? Because conscience is an abstract thing but the Russian money is real.