Recently, the occupiers’ propaganda apparatus reported on the “30th anniversary” of the Yevpatoria-based German organization “Ludwigsburg”, a group that, prior to the occupation, was a genuinely substantial civic organization.
We have previously written on several occasions about how Russian intelligence services have attempted to exploit Crimean Germans, many of whom are entirely fictitious, for subversive activities directed against Germany.
However, those in charge of the “German question”, Larisa Sokirskaya, the perennial “chairman of the Crimean National-Cultural Autonomy” Juri Gempel, and his “right-hand man,” former Soviet naval officer Alexey Nusbaum, had little to boast about at this quasi-anniversary, save for the pointed observation that “the event took place despite the lack of electricity.”
As for local functionaries in Yevpatoria, such as Irina Bernard, who last hosted guests from Germany five years ago, they were left to reminisce about “the good old days.” In reality, however, Russian intelligence services have shifted the primary role of speaking “on behalf of the Crimean Germans” to entirely different figures.
Foremost among them is Liane Kilinc, the daughter of an East German intelligence officer. Until 2025, she headed a Germany-based organization called “Friedensbrücke – Kriegsopferhilfe” (“Bridge of Peace – Aid for War Victims”), which was controlled by Russian intelligence and allegedly spent the last decade “delivering German humanitarian aid to the Donbas.” A year ago, however, journalists proved that this “Bridge of Peace” organization, beyond its propaganda efforts, was also involved in delivering supplies. These were not humanitarian in nature, but strictly military, worth millions of euros, and were destined for specific armed units of the aggressor in Ukraine. Kilinc managed to flee to Russia, where, a year ago, the Kremlin dictator ceremoniously granted her Russian citizenship.
The story of Elvira Kelm is no less colorful; she is currently engaged in extracting all manner of “aid for the front” from the “pensioners, public-sector employees, and students” of Yevpatoria.
In 2016, this individual purchased a plot of land in Romashkino (Sokur-Koy), where, over the course of two years, she built a house and relocated from Germany. Notably, her children chose not to follow her example. This tragi-comic case has since allowed the aforementioned Gempel to claim, over the past few years, that “thousands of Germans are moving to Crimea.” Beyond such fabrications, Kelm is also utilized by Russian propaganda as part of the “Road Home” (“Put Domoy”) project.
This project, which we previously touched upon in our investigation into the Syrian and Greek connections of Russia’s “shadow fleet” and its vocal defenders, is aimed at the mass recruitment of agents across European countries by Russian intelligence services, all under the guise of “repatriating compatriots.”
