AfD parliamentarian's aide suspected of colluding with Russian intelligence to sabotage German aid to Ukraine
Sergiyenko speculated with his Russian contact about the potential halt or delay of arms deliveries to Ukraine. He also requested over £21,350 each month "for covering legal and representational costs," along with "other AfD parliamentarians". These discussions transpired in the spring of 2023.
The scheme entailed arranging a lawsuit to be initiated by the AfD with the Federal Constitutional Court in July 2023 relating to the shipment of German tanks to Ukraine. By August 2023, "Der Spiegel" published that Sergiyenko had endeavoured to manipulate a delivery delay stretching over several months.
European intelligence agencies suspect that Sergiyenko's "Russian contact" is an FSB colonel named Ilya Vechtomov.
Sergiyenko refutes claims
In response to a comment request from "Spiegel," Sergiyenko emphatically denied the allegations. "The allegations of me being an agent of Moscow's influence are baseless and utterly inconsistent with reality. The alleged ties with Russia are imaginary, and Ilya Vechtomov, purportedly the contact person, is unknown to me," he asserted.
From media discoveries, it seems that Vechtomov, recorded in Sergiyenko's phone as "Aleksey," is employed in an FSB department that manages international intelligence operations, inclusive of those linked to Ukraine.
"Der Spiegel" emphasised that Sergiyenko has been on the watchlist of German agencies for quite some time, and Berlin authorities are striving to revoke his German nationality, which was granted in 2022. During the naturalisation process, Sergiyenko only presented his Ukrainian passport even though he had also acquired a Russian passport in 2022.
Who employs Sergiyenko?
Eugen Schmidt, Sergiyenko's employer, has been a member of the Bundestag since 2021. As discovered by "Tagesschau", Schmidt criticised Germany in the Russian state media. He claimed that "there is no democracy in Germany and those who think differently are susceptible to physical assaults," and that "proceedings before German courts are neither fair nor legal."
Born in Kazakhstan, Schmidt is a member of the Bundestag's foreign affairs commission and, within the AfD parliamentary group, he serves as the representative for Russian-German matters.
