AfD Calls on Merz to Establish Contacts with Putin

Markus Frohnmaier, deputy head of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) faction in the Bundestag, has called on German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to establish contact with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. He made the remarks during a podcast cited by Die Welt.

Frohnmaier expects Merz to follow his predecessor Olaf Scholz in making phone calls to Putin. He also expressed doubt that Russia could threaten Germany in the near future and urged Berlin to stay out of Russia's war against Ukraine.

“I want Germany to stay out of this war. We must first think from Germany's perspective – do we Germans really want direct confrontation with the Russians?” the politician said.

According to Frohnmaier, Russia has changed its war objectives: initially aiming to capture all of Ukraine up to Kyiv, now focusing on Donbas. He visited the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June, where he met with Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller to discuss resuming gas supplies from Russia.

Earlier, AfD leader Alice Weidel called on Germany to lift its boycott of Russian energy resources to boost its own economic growth.