According to a media report, Russian money plays a greater role than previously known in the violent right-wing extremist scene in Germany. According to research by the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, the Bundeswehr lieutenant Franco A., who is currently on trial before the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main on suspicion of terrorism, has apparently sought contact with a state-affiliated Russian foundation in the past. Franco A. is said to have been to the Russian foundation “Institute for Democracy and Cooperation”, which has a location in Paris, at least once.
According to the findings of German security authorities, he is said to have hoped for financial support in Paris. In the past, for example, the foundation has given financial support to Marine Le Pen’s right-wing populist French party. The Russian institute is also regularly a solvent partner for the right-wing German magazine “Compact”.
It is unclear whether Franco A. actually got Russian money in this way. According to “SZ” information, some of his right-wing comrades apparently succeeded in doing this. Among the numerous officers and police officers who networked with Franco A. in the right-wing chat group “Nordkreuz”, there are said to be a striking number who rely on Russian partners in their private companies.
In the chat group were commanders of reservist units as well as active police officers from special forces. Some of them ran private security companies on the side. The connections in this network were already the subject of an investigation by the secret service control committee of the Bundestag, which was not made public.
“The war in Ukraine is just the tip of the iceberg of Russian interference against the rules-based order,” said Roderich Kiesewetter (CDU), Vice-Chairman of the Intelligence Service Control Committee.
