Venstre candidate withdraws before election amid Russia stories
Alexandra Sasha of Venstre, The Liberal Party of Denmark, has withdrawn her candidacy for the European Parliament election after media stories regarding Russian connections surfaced on Facebook. The 28-year-old with Russian roots refutes allegations of being a ‘Putin lackey’. She expressed having been subjected to a smear campaign filled with false statements and unpleasant interpretations that have been both physically and mentally strenuous. The withdrawal follows a series of stories by Ekstra Bladet and especially B.T. about the politician, who is relatively unknown to the public. B.T. recently reported that she had been on the board of the youth organization of the European Russian Forum, which, according to Flemming Splidsboel, a Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies and an expert on Russia, is characterized as a pro-Russian and Putin-friendly ‘influence forum’.