Russian bribery affair
New evidence confirms suspicions against AfD politician Bystron
April 24, 2024, 7:19 a.m
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Petr Bystron is in need of explanation. The AfD politician is said to have accepted packages of money from Russia. He rejects this, but video and audio recordings from the Czech secret service incriminate him. According to a report, Bystron complained about the denomination of the banknotes it received.
Top AfD official Petr Bystron is said to have complained in a tapped conversation with the pro-Russian businessman Artem Martschewskyj about the sorting in which he had received the money. Some of the money (the “other numbers”) is difficult to get rid of in Germany because he cannot use it to pay at any gas station or store. This could be heard on audio recordings and noted accordingly in an evaluation paper, several people from intelligence circles who were involved in the process confirmed to “Spiegel”.
European security authorities are convinced that Bystron received part of the money in 200 euro notes. Many shops and gas stations in Germany do not allow cash payments of this amount due to security concerns. Bystron is number two on the AfD’s list of candidates for the European elections.
Shortly before Easter, the Czech government announced that the Security Information Service (BIS) had uncovered a large-scale influence operation by Russia: the media portal “Voice of Europe”, which Marchevsky is said to have managed operationally, was used to funnel money to pro-Russian politicians. According to media reports, Bystron is about 20,000 euros.
Conspiracy ideologue as a reputation
The “Spiegel” and the Czech daily newspaper “Deník N” first reported on the existence of incriminating audio recordings at the beginning of April. According to media reports, a Czech MP who is familiar with the recordings said: “Bystron is rustling with money in the recording and counting it.”
In response to a query from “Spiegel”, Bystron writes: “You must not believe everything that you receive as ‘information’ from Prague so that you can publish it during the election campaign.” The sender of the information is not credible, it is “a campaign run by NATO” to discredit parties “that advocate for peace and fight against the continuation of the war in Ukraine.” This is what the American investigative journalist Michael Schellenberg found out. Schellenberg is considered a conspiracy ideologist who is popular in extreme right-wing circles.