European far right's Kremlin ties: AfD figures named and shamed in ZEIT exposé
Wednesday 5th June
Good morning.
ZEIT has today published the findings of a months-long investigation into the connections between the European far right and the Kremlin. Foremost in their findings is the AfD, in particular Maximilian Krah, who was until just weeks ago the party’s lead candidate for this weekend’s EU elections.
This research was conducted with six other publications across four countries to piece together the connections between far-right politicians in the EU and Russian agents provocateur. The report centres on a Mr. Artem Marchevski, a Ukrainian-Israeli dual national who ran Voice of Europe, a far-right, pro-Russian news website headquartered in Prague. Marchevski was investigated by Ukrainian state security for his role in a similar outlet, 112 Ukraine.
Zeit shows that Maximilian Krah and another AfD politician, Petr Bystron, were very well-acquainted with Marchevski. When the Ukrainian was put under house-arrest in Kyiv for high treason in 2021, both paid him a ‘solidarity visit’. Krah visited Prague three times between February and October 2023, and is thought to have met with him at Voice of Europe’s offices. Bystron is accused of having taken €20,000 cash from Marchevski in February this year— and of complaining that the money was in notes that were too large to use at petrol stations on the way back to Germany. Each denies the accusations.
Ursula 2024
The SZ has a great profile of Ursula von der Leyen, and shows the tough position she is in, going into the EU elections. First there is her party the CDU, in which many are skeptical about her merits as a vote-winner, especially in the East of the country.
Then there is the difficult arithmetic underlying her position as EU commissioner. It’s not clear that her European People’s Party will be able to command a comfortable amount of votes in the new Parliament, with the Hungarian Fidesz and Polish PiS withdrawing from the group. And finally the Greens are casting doubt on von der Leyen’s ability to deliver the Green New Deal, which the SZ claims she sees as a policy ‘equal in importance to the moon landings’, in the face of opposition from the right.
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