In the service of Kremlin: who is imposing the 'Alternative' on Germany and promoting Russian narratives
Recently, media attention has been drawn to the questionable operating patterns of bot farms following disruptions to the Russian search engine ‘Yandex’.
Following drone strikes by the Ukrainian Defence Forces on data centres in the Russian Federation, Cloudflare (a global cloud platform that acts as an intermediary between website visitors and the server) recorded a decrease in the volume of automated traffic coming from ‘Yandex’.
A lively discussion began online regarding the unverified screenshots showing activity charts for bots supporting the ‘Alternative for Germany’ (AfD) party. However, these claims around the decrease in bot activity were later debunked.
However, there is verified data regarding another component of the Russian Federation’s disinformation network in Europe – in this case, a German-language network operating in Germany and Austria. Specifically, these are pro-Russian websites which, whilst promoting the Kremlin’s narratives of disinformation and misinformation, actively support the AfD.
Moreover, the resources we have analysed exert a destructive influence that extends beyond mere support for this far-right party. It is clear that their objectives are considerably broader.
Alongside the AfD’s blatant self-promotion, these platforms are spreading Kremlin conspiracy theories.
From myths about the ‘dominance of globalists’ to tales of the ‘decline of Old Europe’.
And this narrative is in line with statements by Putin himself (the AfD’s success is the result of systemic errors by ‘Western globalists’ and a consequence of Europeans realising the risks of being drawn into a war with Russia. Naturally, this is due to the policies of their current leaders).
The analysis of the traffic and content on various online resources clearly demonstrates the scale of this information network.
Such websites include both giant platforms with multi-million audiences and niche satirical sites, whose negative influence lies not in their mass appeal, but in their involvement in targeted GRU/FSB special operations or other hybrid operations, where the media outlet serves merely as a front to legitimise Russian political influence and financial flows.
This resource, which translates to ‘Our Central Europe,’ strives to present itself as an independent volunteer project. ' However, in its regular publications, it categorically depicts the AfD as nothing less than a "breath of fresh air".
The editorial team consistently defends German far right against criticism from the mainstream German media, persuading readers that any pressure on the party only serves to benefit it. Unser-mitteleuropa articles shamelessly brand the democratic parties as a 'dictatorship', while portraying AfD figures as innocent victims of political repression.
It has even reached the point where the author of one article openly stated, "All pressure on the party stems solely from the fact that the AfD, unlike its opponents, seeks to avoid war with the Russian Federation."
However, Unser-mitteleuropa's pro-Russian activity extends beyond merely promoting Kremlin narratives.
Unser-mitteleuropa generously feeds its audience with top-class nonsense: conspiracy theories about the dangers of 5G and anti-vaccine delusions regarding COVID-19 and other disinformation viruses.
The website receives 82,000 visits per month according to data by Similar Sites platform (hereinafter, traffic figures for the resources analysed are also sourced from this platform).
It is worth noting that long before the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the website coordinated the creation of a network of right-wing media outlets, bringing together more than 25 outlets of varying degrees of radicalism under the banner of ‘European Media Cooperation’.
The website’s founder is the Hungarian János Benchik.
At the time the portal was launched, he was a member of the openly pro-Russian Hungarian party ‘Jobbik’.
Bencsik was also the publisher of the provocative website Kárpát Hír, aimed at the Hungarian minority in Ukraine’s Zakarpattia region, through which Kremlin disinformation was systematically disseminated to stir up separatism.
The formal leader of the aforementioned ‘European Media Cooperation’ was the Austrian Peter Gauer (who passed away in November 2021).
In 2020, he stood trial in Austria on charges of violating the law banning Nazi organisations. He was acquitted at the time, but during the court hearings, Gauer explicitly admitted that he had set up Unser-mitteleuropa together with "Hungarian friends", and had also worked for Stefan Magnet, a figure who will be discussed in a separate segment below.
This Austrian platform systematically and cynically exploits the war in Ukraine, shifting the blame from the aggressor onto the victim.
This website persistently feeds its readers the myth that the AfD is the only "pacifist force" capable of achieving peace. Far-right speakers have been given an open platform here to engage in all manner of provocations.
The website’s traffic is quite substantial, reaching over 432,000 visits per month.
Report24’s links to Russia are very clear.
This outlet is registered in Linz, Austria, at the same legal address (Steingasse 6A) as other notorious pro-Russian projects, including AUF1 and Info-Direkt.
In particular, in July 2022, AUF1 promoted the claim that Russia had merely pre-empted a planned invasion of Ukraine by the US and its allies. Meanwhile, representatives of Info-DIREKT travelled to Russia and occupied Crimea, after which articles on those trips appeared in the magazine.
The founder of AUF1 is the aforementioned Stefan Magnet, a long-standing and staunch supporter of the Kremlin who regularly travels to Moscow and publicly praises Putin’s policies.
The magazine Art & Business, in which this ode to Russia appeared, was published in Austria, with Natalia Holtzmüller as the editor-in-chief and organiser of the annual Russian Ball in Vienna (Russischer Ball in Wien). The event was attended by representatives of the Austrian and Russian political, cultural and business communities.
On the eve of the ball in 2015, Stefan Magnet personally presented the fifth issue of the magazine Info-DIREKT. He publicly denied any formal ties to the publication, but the evidence on the matter is clear.
And the icing on the cake: Info-Direkt’s servers have been physically hosted on Russian territory since 2016. So the question of who actually manages these processes answers itself.
This is a classic example of manipulative framing. The website focuses the audience’s entire attention on migration issues, artificially attributing any internal problems in modern Germany exclusively to refugees.
Naturally, the AfD is being presented to Germans as the sole saviour.
Journalistenwatch has an audience of over 574,000 visits per month.
The main theme of its publications is that the current German government is ‘anti-people and undemocratic’, whilst a powerful state repressive apparatus is allegedly working against the AfD.
The editor of this Kremlin propaganda mouthpiece is Max Erdinger, a long-standing contributor to the German branch of the Russian state propaganda network RT (Russia Today). Even after the full-scale invasion, Erdinger shamelessly tried to convince readers that the sanctions against Russia were allegedly imposed by the United States with the sole aim of destroying the German industry.
The domain is owned by Daniel Matissek, a staff member of the aforementioned Report24. Every article blatantly reveals the Russian influence in Germany.
In fact, the site is an aggressive blog (the name stands for Politically Incorrect News), which was officially recognised as a right-wing extremist site by Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in 2021. Its main focus is on inciting hatred, Islamophobia and anti-immigration propaganda.
The site attracts over 850,000 visits a month.
Under the guise of ‘fighting political correctness’, it relentlessly attacks Ukraine, smears the German government and demands the resumption of trade with Moscow. The only role models it holds up are AfD leaders and, previously, the pro-Russian Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán. AfD party officials often publish their articles on the website, praising like-minded individuals.
Articles by Elena Fritz on PI-News. The publication features a photograph of allies of the German far-right
Stefan Gerre founded PI-News after working for a long time in the office of AfD MEP Petr Bistron. This is the very same Bistron whose parliamentary immunity (in the Bundestag and the European Parliament) was annulled in several stages between 2024 and 2025 due to an investigation into the laundering of Kremlin funds in exchange for "necessary" votes.
The funding scheme was linked to Putin’s infamous associate Viktor Medvedchuk and his network of agents of influence, centred around the Voice of Europe project.
Сompact is the flagship of far-right propaganda, created by Jürgen Elssesser. Its set of manipulative tactics is standard: anti-migrant rhetoric, the fight against ‘globalism’, praise for the AfD and the demonisation of NATO as an aggressor in contrast to ‘peace-loving’ Russia.
The website attracts an audience of over 281,000 visits per month.
In March 2022, immediately following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, COMPACT launched a large-scale campaign named ‘Frieden mit Russland’ (‘Peace with Russia’). Elssesser openly calls for Germany to withdraw from NATO, cease support for Ukraine and completely cancel sanctions against the aggressor.
Jürgen Elsesser is a regular guest at receptions at the Russian Embassy in Berlin. On 7 October 2025, representatives of the outlet presented the ‘Patriot Wladimir Putin’ silver medal, minted to mark the ‘patriot’s’ 73rd birthday.
Despite its small audience, this site is also worth looking into.
NATO’s Strategic Communications Centre (StratCom) lists QPress as a participant in coordinated Russian disinformation
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30 of October 2026
