this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2024
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A German politician has been filmed taking large sums of cash from a Kremlin-supporting broadcaster, Czech intelligence has claimed.

Petr Bystron, who is standing for Alternative for Germany (AfD) at European parliamentary elections in June, allegedly received €20,000 (£17,000) in cash from the manager of a Russian propaganda network while sitting in a parked car, recordings indicate.

Mr Bystron, who also sits on the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, has previously denied allegations of taking Russian money as a “defamation campaign”.

The Security Information Service (BIS), the Czech Republic’s domestic intelligence agency, now says Mr Bystron met with Artem Marchevsky, who allegedly managed a Kremlin-backed propaganda front called Voice of Europe, at least three times in the past six months.

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[–] psycho_driver@lemmy.world 45 points 7 months ago (3 children)

It's happening all over the world.

[–] BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca 23 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's crazy how little it takes to buy these fucks off. Like setup and GoFundMe and just bring out the bribes into the open at this point

[–] flying_sheep@lemmy.ml 13 points 7 months ago (1 children)

This is AfD, our resident fascist clown party. At least we have a coalition based democracy, so it's unlikely that they take over the less fascist “center”-right party.

[–] BrioxorMorbide@lemm.ee 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The CxU (among others) is working on making those clowns a viable coalition partner by taking them seriously and talking to them on TV. Maybe that's not their intention, but it will be the result if it continues.

[–] flying_sheep@lemmy.ml 6 points 7 months ago

Definitely. Who ever trusts conservatives to stick to their word about not doing a coalition with fascists?

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago

Financing your friends and bankrupting your enemies is a strategy western nations perfected during the Cold War and employed to brutal effect in the immediate aftermath of the dissolution of the USSR.

But its not a trick that's unique to western intelligence. Chinese officially had effectively bought out Hong Kong long before it transitioned into Beijing's control. Singapore, Myanmar, Vietnam, and the better part of the African eastern seaboard are undergoing a similar conversion as Chinese exports ramp up.

Russia's economic influence over Ukraine was a big part of what triggered the civil war in 2014 and the Crimea takeover that same year. The Russian government has succeeded in quelling revolts in Chechnya with investment dollars in a way they never managed with military forces. They've got friends in Italy, Greece, and France as well as Germany, thanks in no small part with the open purse of Russian lobbyists and intelligence groups.

The whole BRICS coalition is about coordinating financial flow through these high population third-world states operating slightly outside the western periphery. Its been happening since 2008, when the western operated international financial system faulted. Every country with the means and the leadership has been building up parallel institutions, in order to buffer themselves against the next big Wall Street / London financial crash.

[–] cygon@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

Yep. Push and pull.

Saber rattling from the outside, paid-off politicians on the inside. In the short term, pushes policies towards groveling before Russian aggression, in the long term, establishes precedence and shifts the general accepted attitude to dealing with their pressure.