A far-right German lawmaker submitted eight separate parliamentary inquiries about drone defenses in a single day this summer, demanding details on police jamming equipment, net launchers, and officer training—information critics say reads like an intelligence-gathering operation for Moscow.
“One cannot help but get the impression that the AfD is working through a list of tasks assigned to it by the Kremlin,” Thuringian Interior Minister Georg Maier told Handelsblatt.
The inquiries from Alternative for Germany (AfD) politician Ringo Mühlmann also probed Western arms transport routes through the state, asking for breakdowns by year, transport type, and known stopping points—details that could help Russia target military supply lines to Ukraine.
The pattern drew international attention this week after Politico reported on the findings, following a Der Spiegel data analysis last month that quantified the scale of AfD’s security-focused inquiries for the first time.
The scale of security inquiries
The AfD became Germany’s second-largest parliamentary force after February’s federal elections, giving the party expanded inquiry rights—and critics say it’s using them aggressively.
AfD lawmakers across Germany have filed more than 7,000 security-related parliamentary inquiries since 2020, according to Der Spiegel.
That’s roughly one-third of all such inquiries nationwide—more than any other party. In Thuringia alone, AfD accounts for nearly 70 percent of all questions submitted this legislative period (1,206 of 1,738). In the Bundestag, the party’s inquiries make up over 60 percent of the total (636 of 1,052).
Individual questions may seem harmless. Together, they build a mosaic. Marc Henrichmann, who chairs the Bundestag’s intelligence oversight committee, explained to Politico that ministries have flagged the pattern: when viewed side by side, the inquiries reveal travel routes, aid supplies, and military goods flowing toward Ukraine.
“Suddenly, geopolitical issues are playing a role in their questions, while we in the Thuringian state parliament are not responsible for foreign policy or defense policy,” Maier told Politico.
AfD dismisses accusations
Mühlmann, a former police officer, rejected accusations that he follows a “task list in the direction of Russia.” He maintained that it was the minister’s job to withhold sensitive information, not his to stop asking questions. “If at some point such an answer poses a danger, then the espionage is not my fault, but the minister’s,” he argued to Politico.
According to Frankfurter Rundschau, AfD co-chair Tino Chrupalla called the allegations “perfidious” insinuations that critics “can never prove” during the popular political TV debate show “Markus Lanz”.
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But intent may be beside the point, said Jakub Wondreys, a researcher at the Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarianism Studies who studies AfD’s Russia policy.
“It’s not impossible that they’re acting on behalf of the Kremlin. It’s also possible that they are acting on behalf of themselves, because of course they are pro-Kremlin,” he pointed out. “But the end result is pretty much the same. These questions are a potential threat to national security.”
AfD faces potential ban
German intelligence classified the AfD as a right-wing extremist organization in May 2025, enabling expanded surveillance. In Thuringia, where hardliner Björn Höcke leads the party, state authorities designated it extremist back in 2021. Several German politicians, including Maier, have called for launching formal ban proceedings against the party.
