The key facts

  • The foreign policy wing of the AfD faction in the Bundestag demanded a complete halt to military and financial aid to Ukraine
  • The party advocates normalizing relations with Russia, lifting economic sanctions, and restarting Nord Stream
  • The document was prepared by Markus Frohnmaier, Stefan Keuter and Gerold Otten

The AfD faction's demands

The foreign policy wing of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) faction in the Bundestag has demanded a complete halt to military aid to Ukraine. This was reported by the DPA news agency, citing a program document in its possession, the contents of which are summarized by Gazeta.Ru. The document's authors — foreign policy expert MPs Markus Frohnmaier, Stefan Keuter and Gerold Otten — insist on a complete end to both military and financial aid to Kyiv.

Rapprochement with Russia and Nord Stream

In addition to ending support for Ukraine, the party advocates normalizing relations with Russia, which, according to the document, implies lifting economic sanctions. One of the key points of the program is named as restarting the Nord Stream gas pipelines across the Baltic Sea to secure Germany's energy interests. Thus, the document combines three interrelated demands: abandoning aid to Kyiv, lifting sanctions, and returning Russian gas via the Baltic pipelines.

Context of recent AfD statements

This is not the party's first high-profile statement in recent weeks. Earlier, AfD co-chair Alice Weidel expressed the view on the social network Xthat unrest in some German cities is the result of the policies of the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU). In addition, in October the party discussed what would follow if Kyiv were found guilty of the Nord Stream explosions. The faction's new programmatic position on Ukraine and Russia logically continues this line, but it concerns the demands of an opposition faction, not decisions of the ruling coalition: the document reflects the AfD's position and does not mean a change in Germany's policy.