German Defense Minister Calls to Exclude AfD-Led States from Federal Intelligence Sharing Over Alleged Moscow Ties

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in a Bild am Sonntag interview that Berlin is "intensively examining" who should retain access to classified information, and stated flatly that no such information will go to AfD officials should the party enter a state government 123. Pistorius cited AfD's "undeniable" closeness to Putin and said suspicions of Russian money flowing to the party are "in the room" 23. The remarks follow the AfD's party congress in Erfurt; t-online noted the practical trigger: Saxony-Anhalt hosts several Bundeswehr sites, and a state election in September could hand the AfD the governor's office, giving it a seat on the Bundesrat with access to federal classified material 2. Handelsblatt reported that Green Bundestag intelligence-oversight committee vice chair Konstantin von Notz backed the warning, calling the AfD "the parliamentary arm of Moscow in Germany" and warning of a real risk of highly sensitive data reaching "a dictatorial regime hostile to us"; von Notz called for the National Security Council to take up the issue and cited Austria's precedent, where data on more than 30,000 security-agency personnel was allegedly passed to Russia after a far-right party entered government 3.