The spokesman for the far-right German Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the Bundestag admitted on Wednesday to having held a second job as an honorary professor at a Russian music academy.
Matthias Moosdorf, a cellist, confirmed in a statement that he teaches at the internationally renowned Gnessin Russian Academy of Music in Moscow, following media reports.
He said that he has held numerous visiting professorships throughout his career as a musician and that this position reflects and honors his work as a globally active chamber musician.
Moosdorf, a member of parliament for the far-right AfD since 2021, called the professorship a sign of understanding and said he wants to “give the young people (in Russia) the feeling that they are not being abandoned by Europe,” adding that “music is not has ideological boundaries.”
He said he was in Moscow privately for three days in September to give a “kind of pro bono oration”, and that he plans to teach chamber music to ensembles there once a quarter for several days, but that there are no contracts discussed.
According to German online news channel T-Online, the Gnessin Academy is funded by the Russian Ministry of Culture.
In his statement, Moosdorf said he could not see any political orientation of the academy. “I’m not interested in it either. My work is exclusively dedicated to music as a universal language of reconciliation and understanding.”
The deputy parliamentary leader of Germany’s Green Party, Konstantin von Notz, criticized Moosdorf’s employment at the academy. “Once again it has become clear how close the ties are between Moscow and the AfD,” he told T-Online.
“How someone can credibly make policy as a foreign policy spokesperson while being funded by dictatorships through honorary professorships is known only to the AfD itself,” Von Notz added.