Russian bribery affair
AfD politician Bystron continues to find himself in need of explanation
April 19, 2024, 8:53 p.m
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The accusation against Petr Bystron is serious. The AfD politician is said to have accepted packages of money from Russia. He denies this, and his party’s federal executive committee also believes he is innocent. Now video and audio recordings are intended to provide further evidence against the European politician.
New evidence incriminates AfD politician Petr Bystron. According to information from magazine “Spiegel”, the Czech domestic intelligence service (BIS), has video footage of the Bundestag member receiving small packages. The evaluation papers for the recordings refer to an “unidentifiable object”. Additional audio recordings are said to suggest that there was money in the packages.
Bystron also rejects the new allegations. “We’re just trying to brew old coffee again in order to keep the campaign against the AfD in the media until the EU elections,” said Bystron in the evening. When asked what he said about intelligence information mentioned in the report, according to which 20,000 euros were said to have been handed over during a wiretapped encounter between him and a pro-Russian activist, the AfD politician went on to say that he had “committed to the case” Voice of Europe” as well as the alleged money handovers have already been commented on in detail several times. There is no reason to play your opponent’s game by repeating these statements.
On October 9th and December 12th last year, meetings between Bystron, who is in second place on his party’s list for the European elections, and businessman Artem Marchevskyj in Prague were videotaped by the BIS. Several news services confirm this to the magazine. On February 18th of this year, a car trip between the two of them was also observed.
Martschewskyj is said to have operationally managed the business at “Voice of Europe”. Pro-Russian propaganda and disinformation was spread via the internet portal in 16 languages. In addition, the network behind the platform is said to have been used to send money to pro-Kremlin politicians. Shortly before Easter, the Czech government reported on the Russian influence operation. Bystron and Martschewskyj did not respond to inquiries from “Spiegel”. So far they have denied the allegations that money was supposed to have flowed.
“Bystron rustles with money on the recording”
The Czech daily newspaper “Deník N”, the ARD political magazine “Kontraste” and “Die Zeit” also reported on two audio recordings on which Bystron can be heard. A Czech MP who is familiar with the recordings said: “Bystron is rustling money in the recording and counting it.”
Loud “daily News” This should also be confirmed by other sources. Accordingly, Bystron and Martschewskyj are said to have discussed in the conversation how employees of newly elected members of the European Parliament could be financed in the future. However, it is unclear whether the recording is from 2023 or this year, the report says.
“Spiegel” and “Deník N” first reported on the existence of incriminating audio recordings at the beginning of April. The Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office has now started preliminary investigations against Bystron for possible bribery of elected officials.