AfD (and other ultra right-wing parties) and why they love Russia

Today, right-wing politicians cooperate internationally amongst themselves. It is quite common that they meet and greet. A big European family. They also love and support other autocracies and dictators. That may wonder as right-wing people see themselves as nationalistic and patriotic – meaning that someone feels himself superior to other countries and their people there. That’s the first crack in the story. And one love stands out. The love to Russia and Russia’s love to the far-right movements in Europe. That’s the second great miracle. It does not fit from all viewing angles. Russians have been seen as “unworthy of life” by Western European nationalists in former times. Russia has been attacked by the Nazis and the country fought back. Additionally, Russians have developed a strong Xenophobia and ethnic nationalism in the aftermath of the Soviet Union. Russians hate Europeans and European traditional nationalistic extremists did hate Russians, too. Why does that all not count today when it is about their new mutual love to each other? 

Russia supports destructive in the West – whoever it is

As Russia does all to support any destructive powers in the West, it is not shy also supporting self-declared Nazis. And this support has its historic roots. It lasts now for 6-7 decades and did not stop when the Iron Curtain fell. The history of far-right movements’ links to the Soviet Union and Russia—especially in the U.S. and Germany—forms a deep, complex panorama of covert influence, propaganda, and political manipulation. 

Soviet and Russian Active Measures Targeting the Far-Right: An Extensive Panorama

Thomas Rid’s seminal work, “Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare”, provides a rigorous, archival-based exploration of how the KGB and Stasi weaponized disinformation, not only against left-wing adversaries but by exploiting far-right social fractures in the West, particularly in Germany and the U.S. Rid details campaigns involving forgeries, false-flag violence blamed on neo-Nazis, psychological harassment, and media manipulation to sow division, discredit political opponents, and destabilize democratic institutions.

Rid documents specific operations such as the 1984 Olympic KKK pamphlet campaign, a KGB forgery that sent racist threats to dissuade Black and Asian athletes from participating and thus exploit racial tensions in the U.S. He also highlights Stasi operations that staged or amplified neo-Nazi violence in West Germany, to damage the Federal Republic’s reputation. Rid’s research emphasizes the bureaucratic scale of these campaigns, with the KGB dedicating up to 75% of its efforts to active measures, evolving from early 20th-century political warfare to today’s digital disinformation.

Roland Wagenbreth and the Stasi’s Active Measures Mastery

A crucial figure in the orchestration of GDR active measures was Colonel Roland Wagenbreth, head of the Stasi’s Department X for over two decades. Wagenbreth was regarded as a mastermind of psychological and information warfare, responsible for directing the GDR’s most secretive and sophisticated campaigns against West Germany and the broader West.

• Department X’s Role: Wagenbreth led a specialized unit—“Abteilung X”—comprising around 60 Stasi specialists focused on “desinformazija” (disinformation) operations. As Wagenbreth himself described, the work aimed at destabilizing and confusing the “class enemy” through carefully crafted active measures against political targets and social groups in the West.
• Tactics and Operations: Wagenbreth’s unit employed complex methods, including the forging of documents, planting false stories in Western media, and running psychological harassment campaigns. These included leveraging intelligence gathered from mass electronic surveillance—up to 40,000 intercepted phone conversations annually—to craft timely and effective disinformation “time bombs” designed to maximize impact.
• Examples of Operations:
  • In 1972, during the Bundestag’s no-confidence vote against Chancellor Willy Brandt, Wagenbreth’s Department X was instrumental in campaigns to protect Brandt, influencing key conservative politicians through covert pressure and manipulation—sometimes involving blackmail based on prior secret contacts with East German officials.
  • The Department also created false-flag incidents implicating West German far-right militants in attacks, such as anti-Semitic vandalism and threats, to discredit West Germany internationally. This involved manipulating Western journalists and politicians by feeding false “evidence” and rumors under controlled covers.

Wagenbreth’s Philosophy: He described active measures as a careful exploitation of existing societal fractures—political, racial, and ideological—to turn the enemy’s vulnerabilities against themselves. He considered this as his “favorite occupation,” reflecting the professionalism and creativity of his unit in advancing GDR and Soviet strategic goals. This intensive level of planning and execution set Wagenbreth apart as one of the leading Cold War era practitioners of disinformation, fitting into the broader Soviet bloc strategy of “active measures,” and demonstrating how deeply intertwined Soviet and GDR intelligence efforts were.

Contributions from Additional Scholars and Journalists

Mark Galeotti, a foremost expert on Russian hybrid warfare, underscores the direct lineage from Soviet-era active measures to contemporary Russian political warfare, noting how today’s Kremlin supports far-right groups via proxy media outlets, covert funding, and online disinformation campaigns. Anne Applebaum highlights the Stasi’s psychological warfare including “Zersetzung,” a method of debilitating individuals and communities through harassment and social sabotage, which sowed paranoia and internal suspicion, pivotal for fracturing opposition groups on both the far-left and the far-right. John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt discuss Russia’s contemporary strategy of supporting far-right nationalist parties in Europe and the U.S. as part of an effort to undermine NATO cohesion and Western democratic institutions. Max Bergmann connects documented cases of direct payments and covert support to far-right and nationalist movements from the Soviet era to today’s Kremlin, showing continuity in these geopolitical tactics.

Key Examples and Techniques Across Eras

• False Flag and Forgery: KGB and Stasi forged racist threats, fabricated neo-Nazi attacks, and planted forged documents to create mistrust and scandal. The 1984 Olympic KKK pamphlet operation is a hallmark example.
• Psychological Warfare (“Zersetzung”): Stasi’s sophisticated tool of psychological oppression targeted social opposition broadly, creating internal conflicts and eroding trust, greatly relevant for destabilizing far-right groups considered both threatening and exploitable.
• Direct Financial Support and Propaganda: Both Soviet bloc efforts and contemporary Russian operations are seen as covertly funding and amplifying far-right parties, notably Germany’s AfD and nationalist groups across Europe, to deepen divisions over immigration, the EU, and NATO.
• Information Operations in the Digital Age: The tools have technologically evolved but the foundation remains: exploiting societal cleavages, amplifying extremist voices, and sowing chaos to weaken Western alliances.

Effects and Legacy

Despite occasional operational failures or exposures, the cumulative effect of Soviet and GDR active measures orchestrated by figures like Wagenbreth was profound. It led to a normalization of distrust toward Western democratic institutions and amplified conspiracy theories linking governments to fascism or extremism. By this, it helped to destabilize and fragment the political and social cohesion and this legacy persists till today as Russia deploys these Cold War-era tactics within digital and hybrid warfare frameworks, exploiting political polarization and far-right movements as vectors for geopolitical disruption.

Ongoing psychological warfare against the West – but there is hope

Incorporating Roland Wagenbreth’s pivotal role enriches the understanding of Cold War active measures as a highly systemic, deliberate, and expertly managed campaign by the GDR and Soviet intelligence. Alongside Thomas Rid’s scholarly contributions and those of Mark Galeotti, Anne Applebaum, and others, this overview demonstrates the sophisticated intertwining of far-right movements with Soviet and Russian geopolitical designs. From forged racist threats to psychological operations and covert funding, these campaigns fostered division and weakened democratic resilience—continuities that are indispensable to comprehend when analyzing contemporary Russian influence efforts in the West. Today, several investigations and reports have raised suspicions and allegations of still existing financial ties. Czech and German media, including Der Spiegel and Deník N, have claimed that AfD members, such as Petr Bystron, may have received money from the pro-Russian news portal Voice of Europe, which was sanctioned by the Czech government for suspected Russian influence operations. Bystron has denied these allegations, and the AfD has demanded evidence, asserting his innocence. Additionally, an OCCRP investigation suggested that some AfD members have received financial benefits through ties to the International Agency for Current Policy, linked to a Russian parliamentary staffer, though specific funding details remain unproven. Other reports, like those from The Insider, have pointed to encrypted communications involving AfD aides and Russian operatives discussing potential financial support for legal actions against Ukraine aid, but these claims lack definitive confirmation. German security services are investigating these connections, but no court-verified proof has been publicly established as of now.

Even when Russias influence on right-wing parties in Europe is perfectly hidden, there is still hope that it will not pay off anyhow. Because all these efforts which caused tremendous structures and expenses in the past have been proven unsuccessful – as the Eastern Bloc collapsed anyhow – and it still will remain inefficient. Simply because the majority of people does not like feeling superior to anyone else but only wants to life prosperous and in peace and harmony. 

References for Further Study:

• Thomas Rid, Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare (2020)
• Mark Galeotti, We Need to Talk About Putin (2019)
• Anne Applebaum, Gulag: A History and related articles
• Research by John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt on Russian strategy
• Max Bergmann on Russian influence and extremism
• SPIEGEL reports and testimonies on Roland Wagenbreth and Stasi Department X

Text and image produced with help of AI (Perplexity & Grok)