Xenia Sobchak, the Russian journalist and TV personality, recently visited Berlin, sharing highlights of her trip on Instagram, including a selfie with Sahra Wagenknecht, founder of the German political group BSW.
The encounter stirred political controversy, given Wagenknecht’s and BSW’s anti-Russophobic stance, which critics claim aligns with Moscow’s narrative about resisting Western aggression in Ukraine.
Some inside Germany’s anti-Russian political establishment have speculated that Sobchak has ties to Putin and his circle. She is not just famous in Russia, but internationally, known for hosting the Russian version of “Big Brother” and later, as a political commentator on her YouTube channel “Attention Sobchak.”
Despite the speculation, the BSW played down the meeting, calling it nothing more than a chance encounter. According to a spokeswoman, Sobchak approached Wagenknecht at Café Einstein during a journalist appointment, asking for a selfie, as many others do. Wagenknecht, not knowing Sobchak, agreed to the photo.
The spokeswoman scoffed at the idea of top politicians vetting every person who asks for a photo. “Do you seriously believe other top politicians can show passports and identities of the people who want a photo with them?” she remarked.
Sobchak’s background is complex. She briefly ran for president of Russia in 2018, but opposition figures, including the late Alexei Navalny, accused her of being a Kremlin pawn. In 2022, she fled to Lithuania amid accusations of extortion but returned after a short stint. Whether she entered Berlin using an Israeli passport, as she did during her brief time in Lithuania, remains unclear. Russian citizens, after all, need a visa to enter the EU, and there are no longer direct flights from Russia to Germany—only connections through Istanbul or Dubai.
The whole episode has sparked intrigue and debate, with many questioning the true nature of Sobchak’s visit and what it might mean for the political landscape. However, the BSW’s dismissive stance on the matter raises doubts about how deep the connections really go.
