AfD Leader Weidel Pledges to Restore German-Russian Energy Ties and Lift Sanctions as Party Eyes Chancellery

AfD co-chair Alice Weidel told Reuters Germany should lift sanctions on Russian oil and gas and restore economic ties, calling cheap Russian energy the basis of past industrial success and blaming its loss for hundreds of thousands of job losses and higher US-sourced energy costs 12. Weidel said the AfD can win September elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, calling them milestones toward the chancellery by 2029 or the following election 1. The comments follow an earlier June visit by AfD lawmaker Markus Frohnmaier to Russia, where he met Gazprom head Alexei Miller, called for reopening the Nord Stream pipeline, and was told gas supply could resume within three months; Frohnmaier said US investors were separately examining Nord Stream's reopening 1. Christian Democrat lawmaker Roderich Kiesewetter said the AfD's pro-Russia stance is distorting German public debate ahead of the eastern state elections 1. RT separately cited an INSA poll putting AfD support at 29 percent, seven points ahead of the CDU 2.