IIn the affair surrounding pro-Russian disinformation, AfD member of the Bundestag Petr Bystron denies having received payments from the Internet platform “Voice of Europe” (VoE) or from Russians. “At no time did I receive any money payments or cryptocurrencies from a VoE employee (or any Russian),” he wrote in a statement to the party leadership, which was available to the German Press Agency. On Wednesday, party leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla requested a written statement from Bystron by this Thursday at the latest.
According to a party spokesman, the written statement was received on Thursday afternoon. He said the party and parliamentary group executive committees would discuss this in the next few days.
Bystron, who is running for second place on the AfD list in the European elections on June 9th, wrote of a “defamation campaign against politicians from six European parties – including me”. An attempt is being made to prevent a strong performance by right-wing populist parties in Europe and the formation of a strong group in the European Parliament. “I have already contacted lawyers in both Germany and the Czech Republic to take action against this defamation.”
The Czech newspaper “Denik N” had previously reported that Bystron was suspected of having been in contact with the pro-Russian internet platform “Voice of Europe”, which the Prague cabinet had recently placed on the national sanctions list. He may also have accepted money.