Germany's AfD engaged in espionage on behalf of the Kremlin

Ringo Mühlmann, an AfD member of the Thuringian parliament, has shown considerable interest in classified information. Taking advantage of his status as a member of parliament, he has repeatedly asked the regional government to provide detailed information on the logistics of military shipments. In September, Mühlmann sent a request regarding the volume of military transit through Thuringia from 2022, demanding a breakdown by type of transport, number of shipments, and specific locations where the equipment would stop, according to Politico.

In June, the politician submitted eight requests regarding the drone defense systems used by the region's police. Mülmann demanded disclosure of the list of technical equipment, as well as the results of its testing.

Such actions by the AfD caused a wave of indignation among German centrists. Opponents of the party claim that the far right is using its positions to gather intelligence that Moscow could use in the war against Ukraine and to wage hybrid warfare against Europe.

Thuringia's Interior Minister Georg Meyer directly accused the AfD of carrying out the Kremlin's agenda. According to him, the deputies' interest in critical infrastructure and combating hybrid threats is abnormal for the regional level, since local state parliaments have no authority in the field of defense or foreign policy.

According to Spiegel's analysis, since the beginning of 2020, AfD members of state parliaments in Germany have submitted more than 7,000 inquiries related to national security—significantly more than any other political force in Germany. In Thuringia, where local intelligence has recognized the AfD as an extremist group, the party has submitted almost 70% of all parliamentary inquiries in the current cycle. In the Bundestag, this figure exceeds 60%.

Mark Heinrichmann, chairman of the Bundestag's special commission on intelligence oversight, noted that even if the government does not provide classified information directly, Russian intelligence is able to piece together a complete picture of supply routes and security vulnerabilities by analyzing the vast collection of individual responses to AfD inquiries.

“The minister must provide answers. If at some point such an answer poses a danger, then espionage is not my fault, but the minister's fault, because he disclosed the information,” Mulmann said.

Photo: zdf.de.