NFollowing the discovery of a pro-Russian network in the EU operating from the Czech Republic, in which AfD politicians are also implicated, German politicians have expressed their concerns about Russian influence. “These attempts to exert influence are also aimed at Germany,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told the magazine “Der Spiegel”. Russian President Vladimir Putin is waging his war against Ukraine not only with his military, “but also with fake news, manipulation and targeted influence,” Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
The events became public when Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Wednesday that a pro-Russian network “tried to develop influence on our territory that would have serious consequences for the security of the Czech Republic and the European Union.” Prague immediately put the company that runs the Internet portal “Voice of Europe” and the two people who are said to be behind it on the national sanctions list.
On the one hand, there is Viktor Medvedschuk, a businessman who has worked for Russia and its President Putin for many years in Ukraine, and who came to Russia in a prisoner exchange in September 2022. According to the Czech domestic intelligence service BiS, Medvedschuk financed the portal. On the other hand, it is about the Ukrainian citizen Artem Martschewskyj, who is said to have coordinated the propaganda work from Prague. Searches also took place in Poland on Wednesday. According to the newspaper Rzeczpospolita, espionage charges have been brought against a Polish citizen.
Bystron speaks of “defamation” and is suing
The “Voice of Europe” portal, whose site has no longer been accessible since Wednesday evening, is said to have not only tried to influence public opinion in EU member states. The Czech newspaper “Deník N” and the magazine “Der Spiegel” reported, citing Czech security circles, that money was said to have secretly flowed through the network for the European election campaign of Russia-friendly politicians. Politicians in Germany, France, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Hungary are said to have received donations. We are talking about personal cash handovers in Prague and transfers in cryptocurrencies totaling several hundred thousand euros.
At first there was only general talk of the AfD benefiting from these hidden donations. On Thursday evening, “Deník N” and “Der Spiegel” reported that money was said to have flowed to, among others, Bundestag member Petr Bystron. Bystron is running for the European elections in second place on the AfD's federal list. Together with AfD MEP Maximilian Krah, who was recently named the top candidate, Bystron visited Medvedchuk in Kiev in 2021, who was then under house arrest.
Krah assured the FAZ that “at no time” did any money flow to him. At the same time, he states that he “got to know” the “Voice of Europe” managing director Martschewskyj in Prague last September. He drove him back to the hotel on the day of an interview. Bystron told “Spiegel” that he could not take a position on something that was not before him. “From reasonable experience from previous election campaigns, I assume it was defamation.” On Friday, the Czech news agency ČTK reported that Bystron is suing “Deník N” because of the statement that he received money from a Russian influence organization.
According to “Spiegel”, the AfD leadership says they are “not enthusiastic” about being in the headlines with such an issue. The federal executive board will have to deal with the matter, after all there is an accusation of covert funding for members of parliament. The spokesman for the party chairwoman Alice Weidel told “Spiegel” that they would “seek discussion” with Krah and Bystron.