Fake videos target Berlin candidates two months before election, SPD points to Russian disinformation

A coordinated smear campaign

Two months before Berlin votes for a new state parliament on 20 September, a wave of fabricated videos has flooded X. At least eight top politicians from CDU, SPD, Greens and the Left party have been targeted, according to reports by Die Zeit. The English-language clips carry forged logos of ARD, ZDF, Deutsche Welle, Süddeutsche Zeitung, FAZ, Zeit, Bild and Welt, several of which have already announced legal steps.

The accusations are lurid. One candidate is falsely portrayed as advocating expropriation of millionaires’ flats while secretly owning millions in real estate. Another is branded a sex addict who masturbated in the office and possessed child pornography. A third is accused of buying SS memorabilia with party funds. In at least one video, a single frame flashes for milliseconds bearing the English sentence “Anti-Russian sanctions destroy the economy”.

The Kremlin connection and AfD's immunity

The AfD remains the only major party not targeted. SPD lead candidate Steffen Krach sees a pattern, telling Der Tagesspiegel: “We know from past years that Russia actively interferes in elections with disinformation campaigns, and it is no secret that the AfD is on a cosy course with Vladimir Putin.”

It would therefore not surprise me if the Kremlin is now providing support for the Berlin AfD and trying to defame politicians of the democratic parties with targeted lies.

Krach added that his party is examining how to take action against the campaign. Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), has said the activities resemble the “Matryoshka campaign” that flooded social media during the 2025 federal election and has been observed in other countries.

Official response and election safeguards

Berlin’s state election commissioner Stephan Bröchler condemned the disinformation in the strongest terms.

Every attempt at disinformation and manipulation in the run-up to the Berlin elections in September is an attack on the free formation of will and decision-making of citizens, which I condemn in the strongest possible terms.

Bröchler said he was in close contact with the interior senator and the Berlin branch of the Verfassungsschutz and is working on a comprehensive concept to make the city more resilient against such campaigns. State security investigators have opened a case, and the Left party’s state manager, Björn Tielebein, confirmed his party is in touch with the State Criminal Police Office about the clips. The interior administration and police have so far declined to comment publicly on the investigation.

A wider pattern across German states

The Berlin disinformation push is not isolated. In recent weeks, security authorities say fake posts have also appeared in Saxony-Anhalt, which holds a state election on 6 September, in Lower Saxony ahead of local elections on 13 September, and in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where voters go to the polls on 20 September, the same day as Berlin.

The BfV’s warning that the campaign echoes the Matryoshka operation, known for mass-produced false reports during the 2025 Bundestag vote, raises concerns about a coordinated cross-state effort to undermine trust in democratic institutions ahead of a cluster of elections this autumn.