Friday, December 12, 2025

Is Germany's Far-right Populist AfD Party Spying for Russia?

DEUTSCHE WELLE (DW): Lawmakers accuse the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party of using its parliamentary powers to gather intelligence on Germany's critical infrastructure to share it with Russia.

Allegations of espionage against the Alternative for Germany (AfD) have been raised by the interior minister of the state of Thuringia. In an interview with Handelsblatt, Social Democrat (SPD) Georg Maier expressed concern that the AfD is abusing its parliamentary powers to gather information about Germany's transport infrastructure, water supply, digital infrastructure and energy supply.

"With its requests, one gets the impression that the AfD is working through a list of tasks assigned by the Kremlin," Maier told the newspaper this week.

He pointed out that the Thuringian branch of the AfD had submitted 47 such inquiries to the state parliament in the past 12 months alone — and with "increasing intensity and depth of detail."

"The AfD is particularly interested in IT and equipment used by the police, for example in the area of drone detection and defense," Maier said. Equipment used in civil protection, health care and Bundeswehr activities are also the subject of inquiries. » | Hans Pfeifer | Sunday, October 26, 2025