The co-leader of the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the second most popular party in Germany, believes Russia has already won its war in Ukraine—meaning “the German government must finally get to the point of wanting to end the war.”
In an interview with daily Die Welt, Tino Chrupalla said: “Russia has won this war. Reality has caught up with those who claim to want to enable Ukraine to win the war.”
The AfD has been one of only two parties that have condemned the sending of German military aid to Ukraine, as well as the EU sanctions imposed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine almost three years ago.
It was partially AfD’s stance on the war that propelled it to first place in the recent regional elections in the eastern state of Thuringia, and second place in two other eastern states, Saxony and Brandenburg. The right-wing party received around a third of all votes in all three states. The other party opposing the hawkish mindset is the left-wing nationalist Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht, which also performed strongly in these elections, finishing third in all three states.
The AfD wants a peaceful, diplomatic resolution to the war, and believes NATO—the military alliance which Germany is a part of—must take into account Russia’s interests, otherwise, Germany must reevaluate its membership of NATO.
NATO is currently not a defence alliance. A defence community must accept and respect the interests of all European countries—including Russia’s interests. If NATO cannot ensure that, Germany must consider to what extent this alliance is still useful for us.
Chrupalla stated that “Europe has been forced to implement America’s interests,” something the AfD opposes.
The co-leader of the right-wing party warned Germany’s citizens that voting for Friedrich Merz, the head of the centre-right CDU party, would mean “voting for war.” Merz, whose CDU is leading the opinion polls with 31%, has vowed to send long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine if he is elected to power. The current chancellor, Social Democrat Olaf Scholz—whose party is polling at 17%—is more cautious, and has rejected sending missiles out of fear of provoking Russia.
The national elections are set to take place on February 23rd, and the AfD, which was founded eleven years ago, is on course to achieve its best result yet, as it is currently polling at 20%. It has no chance of entering government, because all other parties have rejected cooperating with the party, but its strong performance will reflect the desire of voters for tougher immigration control policies and a more sober strategy on Germany’s geopolitical interests.
“If I look at how the German government reacted to the Nord Stream attack—with complete and utter silence—I have to ask myself: to what extent are we a sovereign country,” Tino Chrupalla said, referring to the sabotage of the gas pipelines that run between Russia and Germany.
