German minister agrees not to say populist party is funded by Kremlin

German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck has agreed to no longer accused the upstart populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) party of being bought by the Kremlin after the party took legal action against him in court.

Habeck, a Green, had levelled the accusations against the BSW, as well as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), during a state election campaign in August.

The BSW vehemently opposes German military aid for Ukraine, and has been accused by some critics of echoing Russian propaganda in its rhetoric.

According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Habeck said during a speech in Dresden in August that to "allow yourself to be paid for your opinion, to buy votes on the internet, to build up troll armies, to have your opinion bought: That's disgusting, and it's not proper, and we know that AfD and BSW are paid the same way."

The BSW took legal action over the comments. Habeck has now signed the corresponding cease-and-desist declaration, a Green Party spokeswoman said on Monday.

Sahra Wagenknecht, the founder and namesake of the BSW, posted on X: "Lies have short legs. (...) It's good that the courts have stopped this spread of fake news."

According to the Greens, Habeck's statement referred to questions about funding for the BSW and the fact that the BSW "has not provided the promised transparency as to where the money actually comes from."

During his speech, Habeck, the leader of the Greens, acknowledged that the government is not doing everything correctly on Ukraine.

"But," the Süddeutsche Zeitung quoted Habeck as saying, "nobody is completely bought - unlike the AfD and BSW."