Press
The espionage scandal surrounding the AfD is spreading further ahead of the European elections. The party apparently granted a Russian spy access to the Bundestag.
Frankfurt – The European elections is imminent, and the AfD has to deal with one negative news item after another. There are criminal investigations, a controversial SS statement by the lead candidate and finally the exclusion from the ID group in the European Parliament: All of this overshadows the election campaign of the party, which is sinking in the polls.
New research now shows that the entanglements of the leading candidates Alexander Krah and Petr Bystron go deeper than previously assumed.
AfD European top candidate Alexander Krah is in trouble
Both Maximilian Krah and Petr Bystron are in the spotlight. Krah has been provoking for years with EU-hostile and ethnic-nationalist theses, he was nevertheless elected as the top candidate in the summer. Krah got into trouble in March when media reports made accusations of bribery against several European politicians in connection with appearances on a pro-Russian website. Krah said he had not received any money for the interviews.
In April, the arrest of Krah’s long-time colleague Jian G. on suspicion of espionage for China caused a stir. The allegations were so serious that the party leadership took the top candidate out of the firing line for a few days and thus publicly denounced him. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office later searched Krah’s office in the European Parliament in Brussels, of which he has been a member since 2019.
Finally, a trivializing comment about the SS last weekend was the last straw. After the French right-wing populists ended their cooperation in the EU Parliament, the party leadership punished Krah by banning him from appearing. He then also withdrew from the federal executive board.
Investigations against AfD list runner-up Petr Bystron
There are also allegations against Bystron, second on the list and member of the Bundestag – namely, accepting money from Russia. Police and public prosecutors are investigating on suspicion of bribery of elected officials and money laundering and have searched his offices in the Bundestag as well as his private rooms.
![Petr Bystron](https://www.merkur.de/assets/images/34/621/34621259-petr-bystron-QTBG.jpg)
Bystron was asked by the AfD leadership to stop campaigning. He later announced exactly that, but cited family reasons. His decision had nothing to do with the party leaders’ request. He left open how long he would withdraw.
Russian spy probably gains access to Bundestag through AfD MPs
The portal t-online has revealed that Krah and Bystron not only gave another suspected espionage agent access to the EU Parliament, but also to the German Bundestag. According to the report, this is the Pole Janusz Niedźwiecki. He is currently in custody in Poland after the public prosecutor’s office filed charges in February.
He faces 15 years in prison, while protesting his innocence. He is said to have worked for the Russian secret service. “In retrospect, I should have intervened,” Krah said to t-onlineHe himself claims not to have known anything about Niedźwiecki’s activities. AfD members of the Bundestag who met with Niedźwiecki are said to have been interrogated by Polish investigators in Berlin in the summer of 2022.
Russian oligarch Medvetschuk gives Bystron “bundles of banknotes”
Niedźwiecki is said to be the link between the AfD and the Russian oligarch Viktor Medvedtschuk. Putin-Supporter is said to have slipped Bystron “bundles of banknotes” at a meeting. It is proven that Krah and Bystron enabled the Pole to lobby for the oligarch in the Bundestag and the EU Parliament. This is said to have been organized by another of Krah’s assistants.
According to the portal, investigative authorities from Germany, Poland, the USA and the Czech Republic are said to be involved in the complex and have already questioned Krah. According to the Polish police, Niedźwiecki is said to have been charged with completing orders. Newspaper received cash payments, of which around 70,000 euros were seized in bundles of banknotes bearing the band of a Russian bank.
AfD top candidate Krah was interrogated by the FBI
With his lobbying work, Niedźwiecki is said to have taken on the role of Mateuz Piskorski, who was indicted in Poland and was also close to the AfD and the right-wing publicist Manuel Ochsenreiter.
The contact of Krah to Russia, according to independent sources, t-online in the spring of 2019. Krah hired Putin-worshipping Guillaum Pradoura as his assistant. Oleg Voloshin, the mastermind of one of Medvedchuk’s channels, is also said to have had contact with Krah, which is why the FBI interrogated him. There is video footage showing Medvedchuk, Pradoura, Krah, Bystron and Niedźwiecki at a meeting. (cgsc with afp)
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