 party worked on a clandestine plan to use Russian money to delay the delivery of tanks to Ukraine, it has been claimed. Vladimir Sergienko, a naturalised German citizen who was born in Ukraine, travelled to Moscow on at least two occasions to allegedly meet a handler and discuss plans to use legal tricks to delay German military support to Ukraine, Der Spiegel reported on Friday, citing leaked emails and text messages between the pair. Mr Sergienko, 52, works as a translator for an AfD MP and has access to Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, and is said to have excellent connections inside the Moscow political elite. While it is unclear who exactly he was meeting in Moscow, Western intelligence agencies are said to suspect that his contact is a handler for Russia's foreign spy agency, the FSB. Mr Sergienko, speaking to the Insider, a Russian news outlet that partnered with Der Spiegel on the investigation, dismissed the story as a 'blooming fantasy'. 'It's a win-win situation' Email and phone correspondence seen by the German magazine reportedly showed Mr Sergienko apparently working on a plan to help the AfD draft a legal complaint against Olaf Scholz's policy of supporting Kyiv with heavy weaponry . 'The government's job will be made more difficult. It's a win-win situation,' Mr Sergienko wrote to his contact in one correspondence, saying that he needed financial assistance of up to €25,000 (£21,624) a month to help with legal fees. Following up on one meeting, the contact in Moscow asked whether there has been 'progress on the active measures' to which Mr Sergienko replied that 'it's not easy but we are making progress'. In July, the AfD launched a challenge to weapons deliveries in Germany's constitutional court, its highest legal institution. The challenge is yet to be heard but it is not seen as likely that it will force a change in Germany policy. However, it remains unclear whether Mr Ser){kind=link}
Vladimir Sergienko says idea he plotted with Moscow’s political elite to impede support through legal tricks is ‘fantasy’
A parliamentary aide from the far-Right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party worked on a clandestine plan to use Russian money to delay the delivery of tanks to Ukraine, it has been claimed.
Vladimir Sergienko, a naturalised German citizen who was born in Ukraine, travelled to Moscow on at least two occasions to allegedly meet a handler and discuss plans to use legal tricks to delay German military support to Ukraine, Der Spiegel reported on Friday, citing leaked emails and text messages between the pair.
Mr Sergienko, 52, works as a translator for an AfD MP and has access to Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, and is said to have excellent connections inside the Moscow political elite.
While it is unclear who exactly he was meeting in Moscow, Western intelligence agencies are said to suspect that his contact is a handler for Russia’s foreign spy agency, the FSB.