In Germany, an assistant to a Bundestag member from the far-right Alternative for Germany party cooperates with Russian special services

An assistant to a Bundestag member from the far-right Alternative for Germany party has been cooperating with Russian intelligence services and trying to influence the timing of the delivery of Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

This is stated in an investigation by Insider and Spiegel.

As the journalists found out, Vladimir Sergienko, a naturalised German citizen, works for Eugen Schmidt, a parliamentarian from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Sergienko, on the instructions of a Russian intelligence officer, planned to stop or slow down the supply of German Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine by filing lawsuits against the German government, which would cost only $93,000.

The reason for the lawsuits was that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had agreed to send the weapons to Ukraine without the permission of the Bundestag, although no German law requires such consent.

On July 5, the AfD parliamentary party filed a lawsuit against the authorities with the Federal Constitutional Court, and the case is being heard in Karlsruhe.

Vladimir Sergienko is a native of Lviv but has been living in Germany for 31 years. In November 2022, he acquired German citizenship through the naturalisation procedure.

Journalists found in Sergienko's correspondence copies of his domestic and international passports issued by Russia in early 2022.

He has travelled to Russia two dozen times over the past three years; eighteen of these trips have taken place since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. In particular, Sergienko flew to Moscow on February 23, 2022.

The correspondence between Sergienko and his alleged supervisor, called Alexei, which was accessed by investigative journalists, used expressions typical of Soviet bodies that oversaw subversive activities abroad.

In particular, the interlocutors discussed "active measures" - a term Russia has used for covert attempts to influence the politics of other countries through disinformation, propaganda and other dishonest methods since Soviet times.

In addition, Sergienko appeared on Russian state television, where he spoke about conspiracy theories, including that Germany was planning to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

As an aide to a Bundestag deputy, Sergienko has full access to the parliament.