By John O’Donnell
BERLIN, Sept 18 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top economic envoy and Germany’s far-right AfD leadership have begun preparations to meet next year to discuss restarting gas supplies to Europe’s biggest economy, two people familiar with the plan said.
The discussions for a meeting as early as March underline the close relations between Moscow and the AfD, which, although blocked from power by a coalition of its rivals, is Germany’s most popular party with voters.
The meeting would be attended by Kirill Dmitriev, who is a close adviser to Putin and who heads Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, as well as AfD co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, one of the people said.
A spokesperson for the AfD and a representative for Dmitriev declined to comment.
Before the sanctions imposed over Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia supplied more than a third of Germany’s crude oil imports and more than half of its natural gas.
The meeting would only happen if a peace framework was agreed first between Russia and Ukraine, and the organisers hoped it would bring together the AfD, Russia and the United States, the person said. Possible locations for the summit included Israel, the United Arab Emirates or India, they added.
Weidel advocated the end of a boycott of Russian oil and gas to bolster Germany’s flagging economy in an interview with Reuters in June.
Dmitriev was present at a meeting this month in Moscow with US representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Organisers hoped Witkoff and Kushner would also attend the gas meeting, which would examine reopening the Russian Nord Stream gas pipelines, said the person.
A senior US official told Reuters that Witkoff and Kushner have not been informed about or invited to the proposed summit.
AfD HOPES TO SCORE WITH VOTERS
Any gathering would be symbolic, since the AfD does not govern. But the preparations highlight the fragility of Germany’s political system, where the longstanding refusal of mainstream parties to work with the far-right is being tested by the AfD’s electoral success.
The AfD has just won a major victory to become the biggest party in a state election in Saxony-Anhalt, and faces another test of its popularity on Sunday in an election in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The Russian Nord Stream gas pipelines enter Germany in this state.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Moscow welcomed the idea as “a positive and timely step”.
“Involving Germany as a key European economy can create a broader platform for discussing issues that are significant both for these countries and for the rest of the world,” said Robert Agee, President of AmCham Russia.
Germany has struggled to recover from the shock caused by the shutdown of the key undersea Nord Stream pipelines, some of which were crippled by explosions in September 2022.
But any effort to restart Russian gas supplies or Nord Stream would stoke fierce resistance, both in Germany and among its allies, particularly in Eastern Europe.
“Germany cannot become dependent on Russia again,” said Michael Kellner, a Green lawmaker who was in charge of German energy policy in government during the crisis triggered by the cut-off of Russian gas following its invasion of Ukraine.
“We cannot repeat the mistakes of the energy crisis,” he said. “It cost us €50 billion. We cannot want to go back to that. It would be treason. Putin is using the AfD to his own ends.”
Roderich Kiesewetter, a member of parliament from Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats, said the AfD meeting could embolden those in his party who also favoured buying Russian gas.
“The AfD is on Russia’s side, willing to betray both the Ukraine and Germany. Russia uses energy, especially Nord Stream, as a hybrid weapon for military purposes. Reopening Nord Stream would be a disaster for European security and isolate Germany.”
The AfD has framed its call for a resumption of Russian gas supplies as pragmatic, with Weidel describing “cheap energy from Russia” as “the secret of the success of ‘Made in Germany’.”
The AfD hopes the meeting can illustrate their competence in foreign policy and show up the government for inaction in tackling high energy prices, said one of the sources.
Germany’s support for Ukraine has become increasingly divisive.
The country’s relationship with Russia carries more weight in the east, which was under Soviet rule until the fall of the Berlin Wall more than 35 years ago. Many there take a sympathetic stance towards Russia and a critical view of Germany’s military protector, the United States.
(Reporting By Reuters Moscow Bureau, additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Elisa Martinuzzi and Alex Richardson)
Comments