Kremlin's hand: German Interior Ministry seeks to shine light on Far Right links to Russia

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has said she wants to take a closer look at the far-right Alternative for Germany party's links to Russia, as Moscow's hand should not be "reaching into our parliaments".

"We must continue to shine a light on the links between right-wing extremist networks and Russia. The security agencies monitor Russian influence very closely for this reason," Nancy Faeser said in an interview with newspapers of the Funke media group, as reported by ntv.

Faeser was reacting to reports by Spiegel and the investigative portal The Insider that an aide to Eugen Schmidt, an Alternative for Germany (AfD) member of the Bundestag, was apparently in close contact with a Russian FSB colonel.

"Moscow's hand should not reach into our parliaments. That's why anyone who has not taken this danger seriously before should be alarmed by recent reports," the minister said.

Faeser added that it has long been clear "who allows themselves to be harnessed to Putin's propaganda machine".

She stressed that there are "significant overlaps" between Russian propaganda and right-wing narratives.

"The common interest is to destroy confidence in our democracy and undermine our support for Ukraine," Faeser said.

In recent months, AfD has been consistently ranked second in the polls, reflecting Germans' disappointment with the policies of the current coalition government led by Olaf Scholz. Three federal states have already declared AfD a right-wing extremist party.