"Reasonable statements"

Lavrov is a fan of Wagenknecht and Weidel

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov finds both Sahra Wagenknecht and Alice Weidel "reasonable".(Bild: Krone KREATIV/AFP/Ina FASSBENDER, AFP/POOL/Kristina Kormilitsyna, AFP/Tobias SCHWARZ)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is apparently a fan of Alice Weidel and Sahra Wagenknecht. There is "a lot of good sense" in their statements, Lavrov said in Moscow at his big press conference at the start of the year.

The AfD, like the Rassemblement National in France, are parties that are established in the parliaments and have a growing electorate. Both want "the national self-determination and identity of the Germans and French to be restored, because they believe that the Brussels bureaucracy has illegally usurped a large part of it," said Lavrov, referring to the right-wing parties in Germany and France. In this context, the 74-year-old chief diplomat also mentioned the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance several times. He could not say that the programs of all these parties were destructive. 

AfD leader Alice Weidel is fighting for radical change in Germany.(Bild: AFP)

AfD representatives on Russian talk shows
He highlighted the fact that AfD representatives also appear on Russian talk shows and campaign for better relations between Moscow and Berlin. They pointed out, for example, that the "Anglo-Saxons", as Lavrov referred to the British and Americans, had always tried to prevent an alliance between Germany and Russia. The Foreign Minister also received AfD co-chairman Tino Chrupalla in Moscow in 2020. 

She broke with the Left Party and does not want to be called "left-wing": Sahra Wagenknecht(Bild: AFP)

Lavrov and representatives of the Moscow power apparatus are always happy to hear the AfD and the BSW speak out in favor of resuming Russian gas supplies. The issue also plays a role in the election campaigns of both parties. The Russian minister said that the AfD and the BSW in Germany were pointing to "deindustrialization" and increasing poverty. 

Putin: Kremlin ready to cooperate with AfD
Russia's head of state, Vladimir Putin, has also praised the AfD and stated that Moscow is ready to cooperate with those forces that are committed to normal relations with Russia.