Alex Salmond’s Alba Party has been slammed for taking no action against as a party activist who has been spouting support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Konrad Rekas was being touted as a prospective candidate for Aberdeen City Council in May’s local council elections on the Aberdeen Alba twitter account.
But the former Polish politician has been accused of using websites to justify the invasion of Ukraine as self-defence and belonging to a previous organisation which was accused of spying for Vladimir Putin.
According to the Courier newspaper, Rekas was previously vice-president of the Zmiana (Change) Party in Poland, a pro-Kremlin group that sought a friendly partnership with Putin.
He became acting leader in 2016 after the party leader was detained on charges of “cooperation with Russian intelligence services, meeting intelligence officers and undertaking operational tasks from them as well as accepting payments”.
In an online article in January entitled “Ukraine Will Never Be The Same Again”, Rekas attempted to justify the Russian invasion of a “collapsing Nazi-oligarchic Ukrainian state” by arguing it is in the “common interest” of all Europeans.
He claimed Vladimir Putin “would never take such a determined action – if he had not been forced to do so”.
Alba’s local government convener, said there is “no appropriate action for the party to take” because Rekas is not and never has been an Alba candidate.
However, Scottish Labour’s Neil Bibby MSP said it was “a deeply worrying development” if apologists for Vladimir Putin’s regime are active in trying to disrupt Scottish politics.
Bibby said: “It is little surprise that mouthpieces of the Russian state are popping up in the party run and led by Alex Salmond, a man who has spent years working for Russian state TV.”
“Every effort must be made to counter Russian influence on our politics, especially in the Nationalist movement.”
Scot Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “I would be extremely concerned about someone so explicitly pro-Putin getting involved in Scottish politics.”
“The Alba party have spent the last fortnight expressing concerns about Russian security, even as missiles fall on Kyiv and Kharkiv. Now it turns out that a potential candidate has close ties to pro-Russia movements across Europe.”
“In May people can vote to make sure that Alex Salmond, his nationalists and their pro-Kremlin comrades aren’t anywhere near our council chambers.”
In a statement the Alba party accused opponents of "attempting to score petty political points" over the Ukraine conflict.
A party official said: "Alba's position as a political party has been made crystal clear from day one of the war. That is that we condemn the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine, support all efforts to secure peace and urge much more generous support for Ukrainian refugees. "
"However, the fact is that Mr Rekas is not and never has been an ALBA candidate.As a private individual Mr Rekas is entitled to express his opinion, however it is worth noting that on his own social media he says he opposes the war and his views written before the conflict are being mistranslated and misrepresented."
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