German AfD Figure Behind Alleged Serbian Node in Russian Cyber Meddling

A Belgrade firm sanctioned last year by the United States for aiding an alleged Russia-based cybercrime service provider was founded in 2022 by Kazakh-born German citizen Andreas Maul, who has since become a city councillor for the far-right Alternative for Germany party, AfD, BIRN can reveal. Maul, 38, opened Smart Digital Ideas D.O.O. in a dilapidated nineties-era shopping mall in the New Belgrade district of the Serbian capital in October 2022, according to the Serbian Business Register. The company was registered as an IT retailer, but the US Treasury says its real activities are more sinister.