“Of course it's nice for Russian actors if they can win such people over for their purposes and possibly use their influence in certain audiences,” said Haldenwang. “Less so to support those political parties than to use their role to split society.”Īside from the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which has come under scrutiny from the BfV, among the most prominent figures attacking the government are Left party lawmaker Sahra Wagenknecht and Haldenwang's own predecessor, Hans-Georg Maassen, who was fired five years ago after downplaying anti-migrant violence. “Naturally there are attempts to get close to certain politicians on the right or left fringes,” he told The AP. Haldenwang cited disinformation being spread by Russian state media and internet platforms, but said key influencers are also targeted by Russia's agents in Berlin to carry propaganda into German society. “And we see a large number of measures being taken (to that effect).” “When they recognize that there are sentiments in the country that can lead to division, then those sentiments are supported,” he said. The BfV chief said such trends are actively fueled by countries like Russia, which has an interest in destabilizing democracy in Europe's biggest economy. “Often those are people from the extremist circles.” ![]() “The more complex an issue is, the more intensively one has to deal with a topic, the more there is a tendency to seek simple answers and run after people who offer an easy solution for problems,” said Haldenwang. Recent government plans to encourage Germans to replace old oil and gas heaters with efficient and climate-friendly heat pumps have faced hostility from opposition parties but also extremist groups seeking to tap into homeowners' fears that they'll be saddled with high costs, despite warnings from experts that the alternative is more expensive in the long run. “All of these issues can be used to spread a particular narrative and give the impression that the state isn't in control of certain situations and therefore it needs to be toppled,” he said. ![]() These include migration - where far-right actors have perpetuated the myth of a “great replacement” - but also government measures to curb the coronavirus pandemic and combat climate change. Haldenwang said anti-government extremists consciously use wedge issues to stoke fear and gain new followers. “What links all of these groups is that they despise our state and our democracy, reject it and want to abolish it,” he told The Associated Press in an interview in Berlin. Thomas Haldenwang, who heads the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, or BfV, said the mixing of previously separate groups - from far-right extremists to QAnon conspiracy theorists - and their willingness to use violence was particularly worrying.
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