Putinversteher
[3] The term was first used in March 2014 by the German publications Der Spiegel and Die Welt, shortly after the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.
Der Spiegel used the term when The Left politician Sahra Wagenknecht and other party members said that the annexation of Crimea was understandable and justified, arguing that Russia's "legitimate interests in the region" must be taken into consideration.
Foremost was former Social Democratic of Germany (SPD) leader and German chancellor Gerhard Schröder, whose supporters were also irritated by his closeness to Putin.
[6] After the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, they "came under increasing pressure to publicly distance themselves from Vladimir Putin amid accusations that they were bringing shame on the country and themselves.
[11][10] Paul Roderick Gregory wrote that they "serve as Putin's first line of defence against meaningful European sanctions for the Anschluss of Crimea".
In his definition, he calls these scholars "those who seek to always deflect criticism from Russian President Putin and Russia and lay blame on Ukraine, NATO, the EU, and the US.
The former European Commissioner Günter Verheugen of the SPD called Svoboda members of the Ukrainian government "richtige Faschisten" (true fascists).
The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance has defended the annexation of Crimea by pointing to the anti-Russian sentiment in Kyiv and repeating other Russian propaganda.
[5][17] Katrin Göring-Eckardt of the Alliance 90/The Greens accused Wagenknecht and The Left party of being Putinversteher and against all foreign intervention, except when Russia did it.
Gregory wrote that Schröder might be susceptible to Putin's pressure because he chaired the board of Nord Stream 1 with an official one million dollar honorarium.
In February 2022, Friederike Haupt, a political observer from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, wrote that Putinversteher could be found primarily in the far-right AfD and The Left parties, as well as in parts of the SPD.
[21] In November 2023, the journalist and Putin-biographer Hubert Seipel [de], known for his unique, personal access to Vladimir Putin, was labelled a Putinversteher after it was revealed that he had received six hundred thousand Euro from Russia to write a book titled Putin’s Power: Why Europe Needs Russia via sanctioned oligarch Alexei Mordashov.
[27] On the left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of La France Insoumise (LFI), was described by some as fitting the traditional profile of a Putinversteher for some of his positions on the Russo-Ukrainian war.
