Dirk Wiese, a lawmaker belonging to Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), accused the AfD of “feigned patriotism,” adding: “Maybe it’s not your own country that you love so much. Maybe it’s dictatorships like China, Russia and Belarus.”
The scathing criticism of the AfD comes after revelations on Wednesday that German public prosecutors in the city of Dresden had initiated preliminary investigations over allegations that Maximilian Krah, the AfD’s lead candidate for the European election, had accepted payments from Russia and China “for his work as an MEP.”
But for the AfD, those preliminary investigations may be just the tip of the iceberg. Earlier this week, German police arrested one of Krah’s parliamentary aides over claims he spied for China.
At the same time, Petr Bystron, second on the AfD’s list for the EU election, is also facing allegations, reported on extensively by the German media outlet Der Spiegel, that he received €20,000 from people with links to Russian President Vladimir Putin in order to spread Kremlin propaganda.
Both Krah and Bystron have denied wrongdoing.
The AfD has been beset by turmoil since the allegations of foreign interference and espionage surfaced. The party continues to poll in second place nationally, but has slumped in polls following a series of scandals.