German far-right AfD party to question its MPs suspected of having ties with Russia

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The far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD or Alternative for Germany) party plans to question two of its MPs about their alleged links to a pro-Russian disinformation network that was exposed last week in Europe.

Source: Daniel Tapp, AfD spokesperson, in a comment to Bloomberg; European Pravda

Tapp says the party’s leadership will hold meetings with Maximilian Krah, the party’s main candidate in the June European Parliament elections, and Bundestag member Petr Bystron after the Easter break.

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The AfD spokesperson said that both Krah and Bystron deny any involvement.

Last week, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that the investigation into the influence network had dealt an “important blow” to Russian disinformation.

The fact that leading AfD politicians have repeatedly appeared on the Voice of Europe website shows that “Putin friends are repeatedly allowing themselves to be harnessed here and made part of the Russian propaganda apparatus,” Faeser said.

Background:

• Last week, Czechia busted a pro-Russian network that was developing an operation to spread Russian influence and undermine security in Europe.
• In this context, Prague added Viktor Medvedchuk, a former Ukrainian MP deprived of Ukrainian citizenship, Artem Marchevskyi, a propagandist of Ukrainian origin, and the Kremlin-aligned right-wing website Voice of Europe to the sanctions list.
• Additionally, media investigations indicated that Petr Bystron, a member of the Bundestag from the AfD faction and a candidate for the European Parliament from AfD, had been receiving money from a pro-Russian influence network. Bystron himself decided to challenge these accusations in court.

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