Comments

You have commented 376 times on Rantburg.

Your Name

Your e-mail (optional)

Website (optional)

	My Original Nic Pic-a-Nic Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Foto

Submit your comments on this article

Europe

'They Can't Be Defeated.' What's Behind the AfD's Initiative to Reconcile with Russia?

2026-10-20

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
by Gregor Spitzen

[Regnum] Last week, the main winners of the recent state parliamentary elections in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt – the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which received 43.8% of the vote, and the leftist BSW, which managed to overcome the five percent barrier – joined forces to pass a symbolic resolution in Magdeburg

…capitol of Saxony-Anhalt…

calling for an end to Berlin's military support for Ukraine.

According to the opposition, the more than €100 billion spent by Germany on the Ukraine project during the economic recession could have brought much greater benefits within Germany.

Aiding Ukraine in a conflict Kyiv is clearly losing only prolongs the war and leads to increased casualties on both sides. And lifting anti-Russian sanctions, as the AfD and BSW rightly believe, would significantly contribute to lowering global fuel prices. This is especially relevant for Germany, where diesel prices this year reached an exorbitant €2.45 per liter.

It is also symbolic that the resolution was adopted on the day of the opening of the trial in Hamburg of a former Ukrainian military officer accused of blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which supplied Russian gas to Germany.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that the AfD and BSW's sentiments are shared by a significant portion of German society, the adopted resolution has no practical significance, since the state parliaments play no role in Germany's foreign policy.

Joint statement by AfD and BSW politicians against continued military aid
However, this initiative played another important symbolic role, demonstrating that the parties in the Magdeburg Landtag, which the political mainstream considers to be at the extreme ends of the political spectrum, are quite capable of reaching agreements, voting together, and, in the future, even forming a government coalition.

The AfD leader in Saxony-Anhalt, Ulrich Siegmund, has stated that he intends to achieve formal parliamentary approval as minister-president of the state by the end of the year, although most other parties in parliament have ruled out joining a coalition as part of the so-called "firewall" policy aimed at isolating the AfD.

For Sigmund, the joint resolution is "the first genuine peace initiative," which should finally bring down fuel prices. For his main supporter, BSW faction leader Claudia Wittig, the proposal is a necessary recognition that "a nuclear power cannot be defeated on the battlefield."

The BSW party does not want to enter into an official coalition with the AfD, but does not rule out possible cooperation with the political force, which shares a desire to restore economic ties with Russia and curb uncontrolled migration.

"The 'firewall' policy has failed," said party founder Sahra Wagenknecht." We will shape policy by changing the majority and promote as many BSW positions as possible."

"What has happened over the past few months and years in this war, along with uncontrolled migration, is one of the most serious problems of our time," Sigmund said in a debate that the political centre parties called a "farce."

The CDU, the Greens, and the Left condemned the AfD and BSW proposal as "street theater" and a "sham of politics." "Those who demand a unilateral ceasefire are not demanding peace, but rather capitulation," CDU representatives declared.

SPD foreign policy expert and former party leader Rolf Mützenich criticized the AfD and BSW proposal, calling it "shameless" and warning of a "catastrophe" if Germany follows it and lifts sanctions against Russia. The SPD politician calls the hope that fuel prices will become cheaper for a long time "nonsense."

"They are misleading people by claiming that there are simple answers to a complex question," he stressed.

This position by Rolf Mützenich—along with that of Ralf Stegner, one of the leaders of the left wing of the SPD and co-author of last year's "Manifesto for Securing Peace in Europe," which expressed quite sound ideas about the need to build a constructive dialogue with Russia—was frankly surprising.

However, a complete reversal of political position to suit the political situation is quite typical of contemporary German politics in general and the SPD in particular. Mützenich merely joined the ranks of Social Democratic figures such as Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Minister-President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Manuela Schwesig.

These are politicians who were once considered among Russia's closest friends in Germany, but who, since February 2022, have dramatically changed their political colors.

According to critics, with their proposal, the AfD and BSW parties want to follow the sentiments of their supporters and voters, who share the view that sanctions are damaging the national economy, and military aid to Ukraine is ineffective and only delays the inevitable.

In addition, the opposition wants to take advantage of the opportunity to embarrass the still-in-office Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt from the CDU, Sven Schulze.

At the next meeting of the Bundesrat, according to regulations, he will be forced to ask his colleagues from the governments of other states to convey these “pro-Russian” demands to the federal government.

Finally, as already noted, the joint declaration could serve as the beginning of coalition cooperation and increase the chances that the BSW will give its five votes in the Landtag to Ulrich Siegmund if he runs for Minister-President in December.

The fact is that the CDU is terrified that one of its members will secretly vote for Sigmund in the election. Such suspicions are not unfounded: many Christian Democrats in Saxony-Anhalt lean toward the AfD. Ulrich Sigmund himself was a member of the CDU until 2015.

Therefore, the leadership of the faction in the Landtag and the federal party leadership decided to deprive potential defectors of room to maneuver and decided not to participate in the elections for Minister-President.

The news that the first trip of the newly formed European Affairs Committee of the Magdeburg Landtag will take place… to Russia added a special piquancy to the adoption of the joint declaration by the AfD and BSW.

Posted by:badanov

00:00