BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th September, 2021) The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party makes no secret of its pro-Russian sentiments ahead of Sunday's Federal elections, including supporting the lifting of Western sanctions against Russia and backing the launch of the Nord Stream 2 gas project, Beatrix von Storch, the leader of the party's national-conservative wing, told Sputnik.
The AfD will be represented by Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla at the legislative vote on Sunday. Based on results, a new German government will be formed and a new chancellor will be nominated.
"Our interests lie in maintaining good relations with both Russia and the United States. Intensive trade and intensive dialogue are always good. Diplomatic cooling and trade restrictions are not in our interests. We consider the actions of the present German government toward Russia in recent years to be wrong. Trade sanctions against Russia are not beneficial, they are detrimental to us, so we oppose them. We also oppose interference in the internal affairs of Russia," Storch said.
She said the party will also continue to fight for the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, since it is "extremely important for Germany."
The AfD traditionally advocates improving internal security, limiting the number of migrants, deporting illegal migrants and strengthening control on Germany's borders.
After the Taliban (a terrorist group banned in Russia) came to power in Afghanistan in August, the AfD harshly criticized the German Ministry of the Interior for allowing a high number of previously convicted criminals slip into Germany among refugees. The party accused the authorities of the failure of the evacuation operation, as well as of a possible repetition of the 2015 refugee crisis, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel personally decided to indefinitely accept illegal migrants from Syria and Iraq. That decision caused a drop in the popularity of Merkel's ruling CDU/CSU bloc.
The AfD has so far had a smooth election campaign, appealing to both the conservative and liberal voters. In the 2017 parliamentary elections, the populist party slammed what it considers Merkel's excessively Leftist policies and called on her to step down.
German media is largely critical of the AfD, however. The party has repeatedly lamented being refused to rent conference halls for electoral speeches and having its outdoors campaign stalls destroyed. Despite the fact that the AfD supported the protests against the government's COVID-19 restrictions, there was no sharp rise in popularity. The party believes the main reason is that the dialogue with voters was interrupted due to the media blockade and COVID-19 restrictions.
The AfD's program rejects COVID-19 restrictions and denies human responsibility for climate change, calling for Germany's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, as well as from the European Union. It points out that Germany's reform initiatives often get ignored in the EU despite it being the largest donor financially.
The euroskeptic party supports the strengthening of nation states in Europe but does not mind keeping the open-border Schengen area for internal EU labor migrants.
