Shortly before a deadline set by his own party leadership, AfD politician Bystron declared that he had not received any money from Russia. Media had reported that Bystron had received payments from the propaganda portal “Voice of Europe”.
In 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 have I received any monetary payments or cryptocurrencies from any VoE employee (or any Russian),” he wrote in a statement to party leadership, according to the ARD capital studio is present.
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.” He has already contacted lawyers “both in Germany and the Czech Republic to take action against this defamation.”
Media: Bystron got money from Propaganda portal
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 government in Prague recently put on the national sanctions list and which is considered a Russian propaganda channel. He may also have accepted money. Bystron’s name was said to have been mentioned at the cabinet meeting, the newspaper reported, citing several ministers.
Bystron was born in what was then Czechoslovakia. As a teenager he emigrated to Germany with his parents.
Audio recording should prove payment of money
An unnamed government member said, citing the domestic secret service BIS, with reference to Bystron: “You can provide audio evidence of the handover of money.” In total, several hundred thousand euros are said to have flowed to European politicians via the Russian network, apparently to spread disinformation and influence elections.
For its part, the Czech domestic secret service BIS does not plan to release any audio recordings of the case to the public for the time being. “The general rule is that this would be intelligence material that we do not publish,” said a spokesman in Prague. He also said that it was not common practice for secret services to make such material available to other states. He did not want to provide further details because, according to him, it is an active case that several European secret services are working on.
Party leadership deadline
The AfD chairmen Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla demanded a written statement from Bystron by 2 p.m. today. The party and parliamentary group executive committee want to discuss this in the coming days. As things stand, Weidel and Chrupalla want to speak to Bystron personally on Monday.
The AfD’s leading candidate in the European elections, Maximilian Krah, told the “Welt” before receiving Bystron’s statement: “Petr Bystron should not make any election campaign appearances until the allegations in the room have been clarified.” Some in the party were surprised at this suggestion. When asked, Krah added that he had advised Bystron to “concentrate on clarification and to avoid public appearances.”
In addition to Bystron, Krah was also interviewed by “Voice of Europe”, according to his own statement once in Prague in September and a second time in January in Brussels. Krah emphasized that in his case, not even the Czech secret service claimed that he had accepted money.
Disinformation war of the Kremlin
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock sees the affair in connection with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin’s hybrid warfare. The approach is aimed at hollowing out and undermining democracies in Europe from within, said the Green politician on the sidelines of the NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior confirmed last week that cross-border cooperation between European security authorities had “uncovered a Russian influence operation against the European Parliament.” The network around the Ukrainian citizen Artyom Machevskyj, who has been subject to Czech sanctions, “exercises illegitimate influence on the European Parliament on behalf of Russia. To do this, it uses politicians from several European countries and provides considerable funds.”
Philip Brost, ARD Berlin, tagesschau, April 3, 2024 4:40 p.m