NOS News•today, 9:12 PM
A politician from the German right-wing radical party AfD has been linked to money from Russia. It concerns Petr Bystron, member of the Bundestag and number two on the AfD list for the European elections. This is reported by the Czech newspaper Denik N. Anonymous government sources tell the newspaper that there is hard evidence for this, in the form of sound recordings. The Czech intelligence service BIS is investigating the recordings.
Bystron, who has Czech roots, is said to have ties to the pro-Russian Voice of Europe network of Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Russian Ukrainian businessman and politician and a friend of President Putin. He also allegedly took money. Bystron denies this and calls it slander. However, government sources say the evidence is watertight.
Explanation to party leadership
The network is said to have donated hundreds of thousands of euros to European politicians with pro-Russian views, Denik N revealed last week. The money would, among other things, be intended for their campaigns, in order to influence the European elections.
The AfD has asked Bystron to explain the accusations in the Czech newspaper. He must hand over a written statement to the party leadership no later than tomorrow about all allegations against him. The party leadership refers, among other things, to the reports about the sound recordings.
Bystron visited Medvedchuk in Kyiv in 2021, when he was under house arrest for high treason. He is said to have passed on information to Russia. Bystron and a number of colleagues in the Bundestag then asked whether the German government had asked Ukraine to release Medvedchuk, and if not, why not.
List leader
The AfD’s European party leader, Maximilian Krah, wants Bystron to stop campaigning until more is clear about the accusations. According to Die Welt, a decision will be made on Monday.
But Krah’s name is also associated with possible Russian connections. He immediately denied last week that he had accepted money or had ties to Voice of Europe, but he is said to have traveled with Bystron to Medvedchuk in Kyiv in 2021.
Other countries are also mentioned in connection with the Russian disinformation scandal, including the Netherlands. The House of Representatives debated the issue yesterday, to find out whether Dutch politicians were also bribed, and if so who, but no names were mentioned.
