An assistant to an Alternative for Germany deputy resigned from his position after the publication of an investigation into his connections with the FSB

Vladimir Sergienko, assistant to German MP Eugene Schmidt from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, who, according to The Insider and Spiegel, collaborated with the FSB, resigned from his position. Schmidt reported this on his Facebook page.

“Vladimir Sergienko told me yesterday that he would cease his activities in my interests. The media campaign against him makes it impossible for him to continue his work. Mr. Sergienko worked for me, helping discriminated Russian-speaking citizens — people who, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, have faced massive hostility in media publications. “I respect his decision,” the AfD MP wrote.

Schmidt added that he would file a libel suit against the German newspaper Bild, which also published a publication about Sergienko.

The investigation by The Insider and Spiegel alleged that the Alternative for Germany deputies coordinated the texts of their speeches with the FSB Fifth Service officer, Colonel Ilya Vechtomov, and this happened through Sergienko, who regularly appears as an expert on propaganda talk shows.

The fifth service of the FSB oversees relations with foreign partners, the authors of the publication about the Russian intelligence services told Agentura.ru. Ninth Directorate of this department, where Vechtomov works, deals with Ukraine.

In the leaked correspondence between Sergienko and Vechtomov, a lawsuit filed in the summer of 2023 by members of the AfD faction was discussed with the Constitutional Court of Germany; they disputed that military supplies to Ukraine did not require parliamentary consent. Sergienko described the costs of this lawsuit.

The deputy’s assistant also coordinated with Vechtomov the texts of speeches by AfD members, which were subsequently written about by Russian pro-government media. The correspondence stated that Sergienko received funding from Vechtomov through transfers to a “German NPO.” According to The Insider, Sergienko flew to Russia several times in 2023, and German border guards, during inspection upon return, twice found him with 9 thousand euros in cash.

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