“The German far-right party “Alternative for Germany” (AfD) is accused of trying to obtain confidential information about the routes of supplying Western weapons to Ukraine and means of protection against Russian drones through parliamentary requests.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Ringo Muhlmann. Photo: Getty Images Source: Politico
Details: AfD deputy in the parliament of Thuringia, Ringo Mühlmann, showed considerable interest in classified data. Using his deputy status, he repeatedly appealed to the regional government with demands to provide detailed information on the logistics of military cargo. In particular, in September Mühlmann sent a request regarding the volume of military transit through Thuringia from 2022, demanding a breakdown by types of transport, the number of transports and specifying the specific places of equipment stops.
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In addition, in June, the politician filed eight requests related to drone defense systems used by the region’s police. Muhlmann demanded to disclose the list of technical means, as well as to provide the results of their tests.
Such actions of the AfD caused a wave of indignation among German centrists. Opponents of the party claim that the far-right is using their positions to gather intelligence that Moscow can use in a war against Ukraine and to wage a hybrid war against Europe.
The Minister of the Interior of Thuringia, Georg Mayer, directly accused the AfD of carrying out the tasks of the Kremlin. According to him, the MPs’ interest in critical infrastructure and combating hybrid threats is anomalous for the regional level, as local Landtags do not have powers in the field of defense or foreign policy.
According to an analysis by Spiegel, since the beginning of 2020, AfD deputies in the parliaments of German states have submitted more than 7,000 requests related to national security – this is significantly more than any other political force in Germany. In Thuringia, where the AfD has been classified by local intelligence as an extremist group, the party submitted almost 70% of all parliamentary requests in the current cycle. In the Bundestag, this indicator exceeds 60%.
The head of the Bundestag’s special commission on intelligence control, Mark Heinrichmann, noted that even if the government does not provide classified data directly, Russian intelligence is able to build a complete picture of supply routes and security system vulnerabilities by analyzing a huge collection of individual responses to AfD requests.
“The minister must provide answers. If at some point such an answer is dangerous, then the espionage is not my fault, but the fault of the minister, because he disclosed the information,” Muhlman said in response to the accusations.
Prehistory:
- AfD leaders have repeatedly demonstrated a pro-Kremlin position, advocating the end of military aid to Ukraine and the resumption of Russian gas imports.
- In November, senior German officials accused the far-right AfD party of purposefully abusing parliamentary powers to assemble and likely transfer of classified information to Russia about the country’s military capabilities and the state of critical infrastructure.