Russian foreign minister praises German far-right AfD, populist BSW

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov weighed in on upcoming German elections on Tuesday, praising the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) and the insurgent populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW).

Lavrov praised the two political parties as defenders of German national interests. Both the AfD and BSW have expressed opposition to Germany’s extensive military aid to Ukraine in the war with Moscow as well as strict EU sanctions against Russian exports.

There is “a lot of good sense” in positions and statements from both the AfD and BSW, Lavrov said in Moscow at a major press conference.

The AfD, like Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally in France, has established itself in German politics and has growing voter support, Lavrov said. He also explicitly mentioned the name of BSW’s founder and namesake, Sahra Wagenknecht, several times during the press conference.

“They want the national self-determination and identity of the Germans and French to be restored because they believe that the Brussels [EU] bureaucracy has illegally usurped a large part of it,” Lavrov said.

Lavrov also emphasized that AfD politicians occasionally appear on Russian television talk shows and advocate for better relations between Moscow and Berlin.

Some AfD politicians, Lavrov said, have contended that the British and US governments have tried to prevent an alliance between Germany and Russia.

Lavrov hosted AfD co-chairman Tino Chrupalla in Moscow in 2020.

Lavrov and other Russian officials have welcomed comments from AfD and the BSW politicians in favour of resuming Russian gas exports to Germany.

Both parties have promoted new gas deals with Russia ahead of Germany’s February 23 parliamentary election. Germany quit previous agreements due to the war in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously praised the AfD and stated that Moscow was ready to cooperate with those that advocated normal relations with Russia.

“We see no signs of neo-Nazism in the actions of the AfD,” Putin said last year while hosting an economic forum in St Petersburg.