Noah Krieger, a member of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany AfD) party whose real name is Murad Dadaev, has announced that he is currently in Ukraine fighting on Russia’s side. On Instagram, he posted videos showing himself in military uniform, a helmet, and body armor, holding a Kalashnikov rifle in front of destroyed apartment buildings. Krieger used German military marches as the soundtrack for the videos. One story listed Bakhmut as the geolocation.
“I am a warrior of God. We fight with honor and pride for the people and the fatherland. I am proud to be part of the German people. The mistaken policies in our country are destroying German values. I am in Ukraine and support Russia. This is not about who is right, but about opposing Western policy that wants to destroy the world. Germany above all,” Krieger wrote.
Late last year, Noah Krieger became the subject of an investigation by the Russian outlet Important Stories and the German investigative outlet Correctiv, which found that the person using that name is Murad Dadaev, a native of Chechnya. He joined the AfD, promoted pro-Russian and far-right views within the party, posted Nazi kitsch, praised Vladimir Putin, and maintained ties with people close to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
In March, Krieger traveled to Chechnya, where he met with several high-level regional figures: Chechen deputy prime minister Akhmed Dudaev, Akhmat Kadyrov Special Police Regiment commander Zamid Chalaev, and police official Khusen Alkhanov. Krieger also attended a session of the Chechen parliament where Kadyrov himself was present. Judging by Instagram posts, Krieger gifted deputy prime minister Dudaev a Nazi-era Luftwaffe dagger bearing a swastika.
After that trip, AfD’s branch in Lower Saxony told Important Stories and Correctiv that it had begun the process of expelling Krieger from the party, though the party has not publicly confirmed that the process was completed.
In 2011, Krieger’s older brother, Suleyman Dadaev, was sentenced to 19 years in prison in Austria over the killing of Umar Israilov, a former bodyguard for Kadyrov. Israilov had fled to Europe, where he accused the Chechen leader of torture. According to Important Stories, after his release Suleyman Dadaev returned to Russia and later visited his brother in Germany, even though he should have been barred from re-entering the European Union.
