Published 4 days ago • loading... • Updated 3 hours ago
Putin envoy and AfD prepare talks to get Russian gas back for Germany: Reuters
The meeting would be conditional on a Russia-Ukraine peace framework and could include U.S. representatives, Reuters reported.
On Tuesday, the Kremlin welcomed the AfD's willingness to engage in dialogue with Moscow, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov contrasting this openness against what he called the confrontational stance of Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The anti-immigration AfD took first place in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Sunday, building on its victory in Saxony-Anhalt two weeks earlier and intensifying political pressure on Merz.
Foreign-Policy speaker Markus Frohnmaier met Gazprom chairman Alexei Miller in Moscow, with the AfD confirming talks to resume Russian gas supplies and stating, "We need affordable energy and the widest possible supply."
Deputy leader Beatrix von Storch framed the engagement as a domestic priority, arguing, "People fear war and that Germany will be drawn into it," while justifying resumed trade as serving national interests.
Reports suggest the AfD and Russian leadership have begun preparations to meet next year to discuss restarting gas supplies, a move aimed at undoing one of the West's central responses to the war.
In Germany, only the AfD is a reliable partner for the US and Russia, said Alice Weidel, one of the leaders of the Alternative for Germany (AfD). Her party is celebrating successes in the recent state parliamentary elections. According to Weidel, the AfD could even replace the CDU.