AfD confirms talks with Russia on gas supplies, urges Merz to go to Moscow after eastern state election wins
Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party confirmed it is negotiating with Russia on the possible resumption of cheap gas supplies, including through a Moscow visit by foreign policy spokesperson Markus Frohnmaier to Gazprom chairman Alexei Miller. Following AfD victories in state elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, co-chair Tino Chrupalla called on Chancellor Friedrich Merz to travel to Moscow for negotiations to "stop the escalation."
Key points
- AfD deputy faction leader Beatrix von Storch confirmed the party's talks with Russia on gas supplies in a Deutsche Welle interview.
- AfD foreign policy spokesperson Markus Frohnmaier visited Moscow and met personally with Gazprom chairman Alexei Miller.
- On 9 September, AfD co-chair Alice Weidel said in the Bundestag that Germany needs cheap Russian gas, and implicitly placed responsibility on Ukraine for the 2022 Nord Stream sabotage.
- AfD won the Saxony-Anhalt state election and placed first in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with over 38%; Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU received 4.9% and failed to clear the 5% threshold.
- Reuters reported that Putin economic adviser Kirill Dmitriev and AfD leadership began preparing a meeting, possibly as early as March 2027, on resuming Russian gas supplies.
- AfD co-chair Tino Chrupalla demanded that Chancellor Merz "finally go to Moscow and hold negotiations there to stop the escalation and arms build-up."
- Before Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia supplied more than half of Germany's natural gas imports and more than a third of its crude oil imports.
Why it matters
AfD currently leads German federal polls (29% per Bild-cited figures), meaning a party openly negotiating with a Russian state energy company and publicly calling on the chancellor to travel to Moscow could directly shape Germany's energy and Russia policy. Chrupalla's demand that Merz go to Moscow contests the federal government's foreign policy from a parliamentary platform. The talks target restarting Russian gas flows, including the Nord Stream pipeline, which would reverse the post-2022 energy decoupling. Weidel's Bundestag attribution of the Nord Stream sabotage to Ukraine puts the AfD at odds with mainstream German and allied framing of the incident.
What happened
Germany's far-right AfD party confirmed it is in talks with Russia on the possible resumption of cheap gas supplies. Deputy faction leader Beatrix von Storch told Deutsche Welle that the party's foreign policy spokesperson, Markus Frohnmaier, travelled to Moscow and met personally with Gazprom chairman Alexei Miller. Von Storch said AfD is interested in resuming trade with Russia, citing the German economy's need for affordable energy and a broader range of suppliers.
On 9 September, during general debates in the Bundestag, AfD co-chair Alice Weidel said Germany needs cheap Russian natural gas and that AfD would work toward that; in the same debate she implicitly placed responsibility on Ukraine for the September 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.
On 20 September, elections were held in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the city-state of Berlin. AfD had already secured a convincing victory in Saxony-Anhalt. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, AfD placed first with more than 38%; Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU received 4.9% and failed to clear the 5% threshold needed to enter the state parliament. AfD also significantly improved its result in Berlin, where the Left Party won.
Following the state election wins, AfD co-chair Tino Chrupalla, at a press conference cited by DW, demanded that Merz "finally go to Moscow and hold negotiations there to stop the escalation and arms build-up," and said negotiations with Russia and an end to the war against Ukraine were necessary so Germany "can finally deal with its internal problems." Reuters separately reported that Putin's economic adviser Kirill Dmitriev and AfD leadership began preparing a meeting, potentially as early as March 2027, to discuss the possible resumption of Russian gas supplies.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
All supplied sources are Ukrainian-language outlets (NV, ZN.UA, Ukrinform, Ukrainska Pravda, Yevropeiska Pravda). Their coverage uniformly labels the AfD as "ultra-right" and frames the party as negotiating "with Russia" or "the Kremlin" on gas. Headlines centre on the AfD's confirmation of talks with Gazprom and on the demand that Chancellor Merz travel to Moscow, presenting the party as actively challenging the federal government's Russia policy. Weidel's Nord Stream remarks are reported as an "indirect" attribution of responsibility to Ukraine for the 2022 sabotage.
Where reporting differs
The supplied facts are inconsistent on one detail: AfD's opposition in parliament to transferring a decommissioned gas power plant in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to Ukraine is dated May 2026 in some facts and May 2025 in others.
Background
Before Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia supplied more than half of Germany's natural gas imports and more than a third of its crude oil imports. In April 2026 the AfD stated it wanted to resume operation of the Nord Stream pipeline. In May the AfD opposed transferring a decommissioned gas power plant in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to Ukraine; during that debate AfD lawmaker Leif-Erik Holm said that after the war ends, Germany-Russia relations could normalize and "Europe will again buy Russian gas." The September 2026 state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin saw Russia's war against Ukraine play a significant role in AfD's campaign agenda.