Overview
- Alice Weidel, who spoke Tuesday, June 30, told Reuters the AfD wants to end the boycott on Russian oil and gas and bring back low-cost supplies to revive German manufacturing.
- The party is topping polls in two eastern states, Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which AfD leaders describe as stepping stones toward national office in elections due by 2029.
- Senior AfD lawmaker Markus Frohnmaier visited Russia earlier this month and met Gazprom chief Alexei Miller, pressing for a reopening of the Nord Stream route and reporting a possible three-month window to resume supplies.
- Mainstream parties and security officials remain hostile: Germany’s domestic intelligence agency classified the AfD as extremist last year and the CDU has rejected cooperation with the party, warning its Russia-friendly stance distorts public debate.
- The push builds on a deep energy shock from 2022 when Russia supplied more than a third of German crude and over half of its gas and the Nord Stream pipelines were disabled, a disruption that raised costs, strained industry and prompted warnings that renewed ties could weaken Western unity on Ukraine.