Accusations of far-right MPs in Germany of spying for Russia | news

The emerging far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party faced accusations from its opponents on Wednesday of spying for Russia and other countries with “authoritarian governments” by asking parliamentary questions about sensitive facilities.

Thuringia State Interior Minister Georg Mayer said, “The Alternative for Germany party is abusing the parliamentary right to ask questions to clearly inquire about our sensitive facilities,” expressing in an interview with the newspaper “Handelsblatt” “increasing concern” in this regard.

He added, “The impression that is created is that the party is asking its questions based on a list of questions requested by the Kremlin.”

The Alternative Party denies

Speaking to Agence France-Presse, MP Konstantin von Notz, deputy head of the Parliament’s Intelligence Oversight Committee, said: “The Alternative for Germany party has formed an alliance with tyrannical countries, and it is dealing with Russia, China and North Korea to harm our country.”

He recounted that in a parliamentary debate in April 2024, representatives of the Alternative for Germany party asked questions that raised suspicions that they were being asked by “authoritarian countries.”

Georg Mayer, who belongs to the Social Democratic Party, said that last year, representatives of the Alternative for Germany party asked 47 questions about sensitive facilities “with increasing frequency and precision.”

But the head of the Alternative for Germany party’s bloc in parliament, Bernd Baumann, described these accusations as “absurd,” speaking in return of the responsibility of his political opponents for “the collapse of the infrastructure in the past decades.”