EU’s Russiagate hits German far right - eviltoast

AfD lawmaker under pressure to say whether he received payment from pro-Russian network.

Europe’s Russiagate scandal may be about to claim its first political victim.

In a letter obtained by POLITICO, leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party pile pressure on a lawmaker to come clean regarding Czech media reports that he accepted €25,000 from a pro-Russian network that’s trying to influence European public opinion ahead of the June EU election.

The letter urges the lawmaker, Petr Bystron, who is the AfD’s foreign policy spokesman in the German Bundestag, to send a written statement to party leadership by 2 p.m. on Thursday detailing any involvement in the scheme.