BERLIN: Some German lawmakers and anti-Kremlin activists suspect Russia of inflaming sensitive regional divisions, smearing mainstream political parties and spreading disinformation to help the far right ahead of hotly contested regional elections in Germany.<\/p>\n
In the former communist eastern states of Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is topping the polls ahead of votes scheduled for September 6 and 20.<\/p>\n
The anti-immigrant, pro-Russian party is aiming to take control of a regional government \u2014 which would be a first in Germany for the far right since 1945 \u2014 and deal a blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz\u2019s unpopular ruling coalition.<\/p>\n
In recent months, posts spreading misinformation have been appearing in ever greater numbers across X, TikTok and Bluesky.<\/p>\n
For lawmakers focused on security issues, the prime suspect is Moscow, which \u2014 in its efforts to destabilize Germany \u2014 is accused of relying on the AfD. The party denies this, claiming instead that it is the victim of \u201cpolitical\u201d manipulation.<\/p>\n
Antibot4Navalny, a group of anonymous anti-Kremlin activists named after the late Russian opposition figure, detected a first campaign in June.<\/p>\n
This involved mocked-up versions of well-known media outlets, including AFP, popping up online that focused on fanning divisions between eastern and western Germany.<\/p>\n
After being reported, the accounts sharing the posts were blocked.<\/p>\n
The group detected a second campaign in July, which saw politicians accused of corruption and sex offenses in posts purporting to come from leading German media such as public broadcasters ARD and Deutsche Welle.<\/p>\n
Two parties were not targeted \u2014 the AfD and BSW, a small, pro-Russian, far-left outfit.<\/p>\n
Antibot4Navalny believes the campaigns were linked to Matryoshka (Russian doll), a Kremlin influence operation, which has been linked to spreading fake content for political purposes before.<\/p>\n
While there is no irrefutable proof of Russian involvement, \u201cthere is no other plausible explanation,\u201d said one activist from the group, interviewed by AFP via a messaging app.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been monitoring Matryoshka on a daily basis for about two and a half years,\u201d the activist said, noting that the German campaigns employ similar methods.<\/p>\n
– AfD, Russia \u2018share the work\u2019 –<\/p>\n
Konstantin von Notz, a Green party MP and vice-chair of parliament\u2019s intelligence oversight committee, says it is obvious that Russia and the far right \u201care sharing the work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe narrative being spread from Russia into Germany, with a budget running into the millions, is then deliberately re-broadcast by the AfD in a targeted way,\u201d he told AFP, adding such efforts were common at elections nowadays.<\/p>\n
The opposition lawmaker also accused the government of inaction, urging it to \u201cfinally take these dangers seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Russian embassy, in a statement to AFP, called such accusations \u201cridiculous\u201d and said Germany and Europe were on an \u201cextremely dangerous path\u201d that did not serve their citizens\u2019 interests.<\/p>\n
The ruling coalition, comprised of Merz\u2019s center-right CDU\/CSU bloc and the center-left SPD party, frequently accuses Moscow of waging a \u201chybrid\u201d war, combining disinformation, espionage, and sabotage.<\/p>\n
Asked by AFP, the government did not comment directly on \u201cMatryoshka\u201d but said that \u201cinformation manipulation operations… have long constituted a daily threat.\u201d<\/p>\n
The BfV domestic spy agency said it was aware of the campaign on social networks and had noted similarities with the Russian group.<\/p>\n
No counter-measures have yet been announced, however.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the intelligence oversight committee, CDU lawmaker Marc Henrichmann, said that Germany had to be careful when responding to such campaigns to avoid attracting unnecessary attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf, by targeting a campaign, we end up giving it even more publicity, then, obviously, we will have made a mistake,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Antibot4Navalny told AFP that while the volume of content is \u201cimpressive,\u201d the campaign\u2019s reach so far is limited.<\/p>\n
Henrichmann acknowledged that Germans are \u201ca bit more cautious\u201d when it comes to tackling state-backed disinformation, and called for the country\u2019s spies to be given stronger powers.<\/p>\n
– \u2018Cognitive war\u2019 –<\/p>\n
He believes Russia is waging \u201ccognitive war\u201d aimed at spreading fear and dividing Germany, which has launched a massive overhaul of its armed forces and become Ukraine\u2019s leading donor as it seeks to keep Russia\u2019s military ambitions in check.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing is certain: the AfD is (Russian President Vladimir) Putin\u2019s mouthpiece in Germany and is consciously exploiting these narratives,\u201d he charged.<\/p>\n
In Saxony-Anhalt, where the AfD hopes to win state polls on September 6, the party\u2019s leaders and supporters dismiss these accusations.<\/p>\n
They believe the AfD has the common sense to urge the government to stop spending billions on Ukraine and immigrants, and to advocate that Germany resumes buying cheap Russian energy to revive its struggling economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeking a reasonable understanding with another country does not mean you\u2019re working for it,\u201d Ulrich Siegmund, the party\u2019s top candidate in the region, told AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cGerman interests are our compass, but to serve these interests we also need cheap raw materials, that\u2019s a fact,\u201d he said on the sidelines of a party congress last weekend.<\/p>\n
Supporter Hans-Joachim Dietrich, a 66-year-old retired truck driver, told AFP: \u201cI think we must argue more strongly, including within the AfD, that Russia is our natural ally.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BERLIN: Some German lawmakers and anti-Kremlin activists suspect Russia of inflaming sensitive regional divisions, smearing mainstream political parties and spreading disinformation to help the far right ahead of hotly contested regional elections in Germany. In the former communist eastern states of Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is topping the polls ahead …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":100319,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100301"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100320,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100301\/revisions\/100320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}