Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader Alice Weidel pledged to end Germany's boycott of Russian oil and restore ties with Moscow if she becomes Chancellor. Her statements came ahead of two East German state elections in September that her party is currently expected to win, and after over 12 years of the war Russia has waged against Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Weidel's pitch positions cheap Russian oil and gas as the centerpiece of an AfD recovery plan. She told Reuters she sees AfD in the Chancellery "either at the next elections or the ones after," with September votes in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania as the springboard.
The AfD currently leads polls in both East German states. The party also remains under-documented scrutiny by German intelligence for pro-Russia ties.
Weidel ties Russian energy revival to German economic recovery
"The loss of this energy set us back by years. Hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost. It made us dependent on the US, which sells us energy at much higher prices," Weidel said.
The AfD leader's framing reverses Berlin's official position that Russian energy dependency was the strategic vulnerability the country needed to eliminate after Russia's 2022 war against Ukraine.
Germany's pre-war reliance on Russian gas, around 55% of total gas imports, was repeatedly named by federal officials as the cause of Berlin's slow initial response to the war.
Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania as path to Chancellery
Weidel told Reuters that the AfD victory in the September state elections would be a milestone on the path to national governance.
"If we win in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania will likely follow. I see Alternative for Germany in the Chancellery either at the next elections or the ones after," she said.
AfD remains under intelligence scrutiny for pro-Russia ties
Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) officially classified the AfD as a right-wing extremist organization in May 2025, though the classification was suspended pending a court challenge, per Euromaidan Press. AfD lawmakers have separately been suspected of feeding sensitive Bundeswehr data to Russian intelligence.
In April 2026, the AfD endorsed the restoration of Russian-language teaching in German schools, per UNIAN.
