A large part of the right-wing German party Alternative for Germany (AfD) supports Russia , its foreign policy, and its allies.
The German domestic secret service reported based on its findings that Russia is trying to destabilize the democratic system of Germany on many levels. According to the head of the service Thomas Haldenwang, Russian narratives are being spread by parts of the AfD and are contributing to expansion of right-wing extremism. [1] [2]
AfD members and activists were listed as keeping close ties with Russian politicians and receiving financial benefits in an OCCRP investigation of Russia's International Agency for Current Policy. [3]
In 2023 various German media outlets such as DerSpiegel, ARD, Süddeutsche Zeitung , DieWelt, ZDF Frontal, T-Online, and Correctiv have published findings on the AfD's connections with Russia. Based on manifestos, trips, quotes and speeches, the "AfD's systematic shift" (Correctiv) towards Russia has been widely observed. [4]
Waldemar Herdt considers the Russian Crimea referendum to be legitimate, denying any occupation. During the 2018 Russian presidential election, seven AfD members visited Russian-occupied Crimea as observers. [5] [6]
In March 2019, then coparty leader Alexander Gauland said in an interview with the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda that they consider the War in Donbass to be a Ukrainian internal matter, and that Germany should not get involved in the internal affairs of Ukraine or Russia. He also said the AfD is against international sanctions imposed on Russia. [7]
AfD rejects EU sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine conflict. [8]
In September 2022, the three state parliament members Christian Blex, Hans-Thomas Tillschneider and Daniel Wald traveled to Russia and also wanted to visit the Russian-occupied Donbas in eastern Ukraine. After criticism from German public, they canceled the trip. [9] [10] [11]
In August 2023 The Insider and Der Spiegel published a joint investigation into actions of Russian citizen Vladimir Sergienko who proxied money and instructions from Russia to AfD politicians, who filed a constitutional complaint in Germany against its supplies of weapons to Ukraine. Sergienko coordinated a number of other AfD initiatives, such as sending letters to the Pope and drafting an anti-Ukrainian declaration of Harald Weyel in PACE. [12]
The Russian state foreign media agency RT has since 2014 a German speaking outlet, which spread right wing conspiracy theories and several times promoted AfD-politicians and their positions. Often German AfD politicians got interviewed in the German and International RT programs. [13] The daily show The Missing Part ("Der fehlende Part") with which RT claims to broadcast "what others do not say, what others do not show". RT invites such guests as AfD supporter Ken Jebsen, a journalist who was kicked out of public broadcaster RBB after antisemitic charges had been raised against him. RT DE was reporting intensively about pro-Russian Berlin Monday demonstrations, which are closely linked to the right-wing populist publicist Jürgen Elsässer, editor-in-chief of Compact. Compact is the de facto voice of AfD. [14]
In March 2024, several European intelligence services under the leadership of the Czech Service uncovered Russia's largest known influence operations on European politics with "Voice of Europe". According to the Czech government, the Internet and social media news platform "Voice of Europe" based in Prague, Czech Republic is the un-hidden part of the pro-russia influencing operation. [15] [16] The platform operated behind the facade of a reputable news portal, primarily reporting on topics that were convenient for the Russian government, demonstrations against Western governments or disputes over the costs of migration. The oligarch and Putin profiteer Viktor Medvedchuk covertly finances the operation and network. [17] [18] The Platform had also the aim of questioning the territorial integrity, sovereignty and freedom of Ukraine. The site published statements from politicians calling on the EU to stop supporting Ukraine. Long interviews are published on the site, primarily with right-wing politicians. Several German AfD politicians have their say: Maximilian Krah and Petr Bystron, who are in first and second place on the AfD list for the 2024 European elections. [19] Articles from other media were adopted, in particular from Compact and Unser Mitteleuropa as well as the AfD-member-magazine Deutschland-Kurier. In addition to articles in German, articles also appeared in fourteen other languages.
European politicians who worked with the news site were paid several hundred thousand euros with Russian money, Denník N reported. In some cases, the money also financed their election campaigns for the 2024 European elections. When the politicians visited Prague, the money was handed over to the politicians in cash. Other money was paid out in cryptocurrencies. AfD politicians from Germany and other right-wing radical politicians from Belgium, France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Poland received payments. When asked by Der Spiegel, Maximilian Krah denied that he himself had received money from “Voice of Europe”. Petr Bystron has so far left a request unanswered. [19]
The Czech Foreign Ministry put those behind the platform on the sanctions list. [17]
AfD Politician from the federal level founded the association “Association for the Prevention of Discrimination and Exclusion of Russian-Germans and Russian-speaking Fellow Citizens in Germany” (Vadar e.V.) in June 2022. [20] The association attests that Germany has an “anti-Russian mood” and wants to offer legal help to “Russian-Germans and Russian-speaking fellow citizens” who would be discriminated against or excluded by the war of aggression. [21]
According to a report in the Sächsische Zeitung , Vadar shares a bank account with an institution that is majority Russian-owned. According to German public broadcaster ARD, German security authorities are investigating the association connections to Russian authorities. [21]
Markus Frohnmaier has been an AfD member of the Bundestag since 2017. The ZDF, Spiegel and other media had reported that the Kremlin had specifically supported Frohnmaier to promote Russian interests in the Bundestag. In a strategy paper of the Presidential Administration of Vladimir Putin, which is to come from the time before the general election in 2017, it is said that Frohnmaier "will be under absolute control". Further on "our people could also set up a non-profit organization, which will be registered with the Bundestag and can be promoted through the pro-Russian positions." [22] [23]
Udo Hemmelgarn has been an AfD member of the Bundestag since 2017. He supports the Assad government and demands German support of the Russian involvement in Syria. In 2019 Hemmelgarn organized a secret trip of four AfD members of the Bundestag to Syria. He is a strong supporter of a "new Syria-policy" in the Bundestag. For AfD that meant backing the Assad government and the supporting Russian government. [24]
Waldemar Herdt has been an AfD member of the Bundestag from 2017 to 2021. Herdt has regularly appeared on Vladimir Solovyov's and Olga Skabeyeva's shows and has connections to Amram Petrosyan, an associate of the Russian FSB. [4] [25]
Steffen Kotré has been an AfD member of the Bundestag since 2017. In February 2023, Kotré appeared in a Russian TV show of Vladimir Solovyov. Kotré stated that German mainstream media were doing all they could to turn Germans against Russia; he also criticised German weapon deliveries to Ukraine. [26] [27]
Stefan Keuter has been an AfD member of the Bundestag since 2017. He is known for his strong ties to the Russian government. In May 2022 he took part in a conference entitled "Economy against sanctions" with representatives of Russian politics and business. One of the topics discussed was how best to deal with the international sanctions. [28]
Robby Schlund has been an AfD member of the Bundestag since 2017. He delineates himself as a member of the right-wing factional cluster 'Der Flügel' (the wing) around Björn Höcke [29] Under the chairmanship of Robby Schlund, for the first time in years, a German-Russian parliamentary group in 2019 was making efforts to establish better contacts from Germany with Russia.
Schlund is a is a member of the Russian "Great Brotherhood of Cossack Hosts" organization and is considered to be the ataman of the Bera stanitsa by it. Both he and Waldemar Herdt have connections to Amram Petrosyan, an associate of the Russian FSB, who considers Schlund to be his "dear friend". He and Herdt also have Russian-language pages on VKontakte and Odnoklassniki. [5]
Eugen Schmidt has been an AfD member of the Bundestag since 2021. Schmidt was empyloying Wladimir Sergijenko "as translator and media worker". Sergijenko is a pro-Russian activist in Germany. German magazine Spiegel titled "Moscow's Man in the Bundestag" in 2023. [30] According to a report by Der Spiegel, Western secret services suspected Sergijenko of influencing the AfD on behalf of the Russian government, and of possibly providing the party or its environment with money. In April and June 2023, after Sergijenko had traveled to Russia, German customs found him with 9,000 euros in cash. He denied financially supporting the AfD. [31] Sergijenko's contact in Moscow was a man named "Alexei" and in February 2024 journalist investigation of The Insider confirmed the identity of the person to be Ilya Vechtomov, officer of 5th Service of FSB. [32]
In August 2023 Martin Kühne, an AfD councillor of Baden-Baden, was charged by prosecutor of defacing two cars with Ukrainian number plates by painting large swastika and "fuck UA" text on them. The incident happened in January and March 2023. After the charges became public Kühne handed his resignation as councillor. [33]
Harald Weyl has been an AfD member of the Bundestag since 2021 and deputy treasurer. At the beginning of May 2023, a video from Weyel was distributed in which he reported that Russian Orthodox churches in western Ukraine were being “attacked”. The video was embedded in a pro-Russian campaign on Facebook. [21]
In 2024 joint Czech and German media investigation revealed that Bystron has been receiving funding from a Russian agency Voice of Europe. [34] The party rejected calls for his removal. [35]
RT DE is a German-language television channel based in Moscow, with a former office in Berlin. It is part of the RT network, a Russian state-controlled international television network, funded by the Russian government.
Petr Bystron is a German politician. He is a member of Bundestag since the German federal election in 2017 for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Czech intelligent service BIS presented evidence in 2024 that Bystron was bribed by Russia to represent its interests in the European Parliament and German Bundestag. In a later investigation by German police they found evidence for corruption and money laundering.
Kay Gottschalk is a German politician of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and member of the German federal parliament.
Bernd Baumann is a German politician of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and chief whip of the AfD Group who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Hamburg since 2017.
Tino Chrupalla is a German politician of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, and Member of the Bundestag since 2017. In November 2019, he was nominated by Alexander Gauland to replace him as co-chairman and later elected to the position. Since 2019, Chrupalla has served as chairman and lead spokesman for the AfD.
Roland Hartwig is a German politician for the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) and member of the Bundestag between 2017 and 2021.
Steffen Kotré is a German politician for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and since 2017 member of the Bundestag.
Waldemar Herdt is a German politician for the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and former member of the Bundestag (2017–2021).
Rüdiger Lucassen is a German politician for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and, since 2017, he has been a member of the Bundestag.
Stefan Keuter is a German politician for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and a member of the Bundestag since 2017.
Maximilian Krah is a German lawyer and politician. He is serving as a member of the European Parliament without a delegation or faction being a member of far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Dirk Spaniel is a German politician. Dirk Spaniel has served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Baden-Württemberg since 2017.
Andreas Maurer is a German mail carrier and local politician convicted of electoral fraud.
Eugen Schmidt is a German politician for the AfD and since 2021 member of the Bundestag, the federal diet.
Gerrit Huy is a former German Top-Manager and now right-wing politician of AfD. Huy is member of the Bundestag since 2021, the federal diet.
Markus-Cornel Frohnmaier is a Romanian-born German politician from Alternative for Germany. He was elected Member of the Bundestag for Baden-Württemberg in the 2017 German federal election. Up until February 2018, Frohnmaier was the chair of Young Alternative for Germany (JA), AfD's youth wing.
Freie Sachsen is a right-wing monarchist, regionalist, and secessionist movement within the German State of Saxony. It seeks to restore the former Kingdom of Saxony through an autonomist government or a "Saexit if Necessary".
During the Cold War, divided Germany had been a center of activity for the Soviet intelligence service, the KGB. It worked closely with the Ministry of State Security of the GDR and had a huge center in Berlin-Karlshorst, which controlled and coordinated KGB activities throughout Europe. After German reunification, networks of the Foreign Intelligence Service remained active in Germany. Russian espionage in Germany has increased again since the beginning of the deterioration in relations between the NATO states and the Russian Federation after the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2014, and more and more cases of Russian espionage have become publicly known. Following the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022, espionage activities in the West are said to have reached or even exceeded Cold War levels. According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the methods used by Russian services in Germany include cyberattacks, sabotage, disinformation campaigns, covert influence operations and secret operations. The main targets of Russian espionage include digital, military and other critical infrastructure, as well as politics, business, society and science.
The German Taurus controversy refers to an ongoing political controversy starting in Summer 2023 surrounding the delivery of Bundeswehr Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, the Ukrainian government asked Germany in 2023 to deliver the German-Swedish air-to-ground cruise missiles. In Spring 2024, the majority of the government and parliament, as well as many surveyed sections of the population, spoke out against the delivery of Taurus missiles to Ukraine.