In what adds ridicule to sensation, the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, BfV) backtracked and announced a standstill in the verdict on the “proven anti-democratic” character of the Alternative for Germany party (AfD), pending the AfD legal challenge. This means that the BfV will not repeat that definition, and instead go back to “suspect of being anti-democratic,” until the court will issue a response to the emergency challenge filed by the AfD. According to the AfD’s attorney AfD, quoted by Berliner Zeitung, the BfV wants to avoid a defeat in court.
Fact is, that while the German government is labeling as “extreme rightwing” the largest political party in the country, it has backed with money and weapons bona fide Nazis in Kiev. And the paradox is that the AfD is exposing that fact.
On March 31, the AfD Parliamentary faction, led by party heads Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, filed a query to the Federal government, demanding explanation of a recruiting operation led by the Azov Brigade on German territory. The query says: “In February 2025 the international battalion of the 12th special forces ‘Azov’ brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces apparently conducted a recruiting event in the vicinity of Berlin. In an interview on site by Bild journalist Julian Röpcke, an alleged German member of this battalion confirmed that it was an event aiming at recruiting voluntaries. An additional purpose declared by the Ukrainian unit was to gain support for purchasing vehicles and other military equipment (www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dHNgDTuECg).”
