AfD leader: victory in eastern Germany is a “clear call for peace” in Ukraine

AfD leader Ulrich Siegmund said that his party’s victory in the Saxony-Anhalt elections means that Germans “do not want to be dragged into the war in Ukraine.”

He made the statement in an interview with the Deutsche Welle broadcasting company.

Responding to a DW question about what signal the AfD’s victory sends to Russia, Siegmund directly linked the electoral result to the party’s position on the Ukrainian conflict.

“By voting for the AfD, voters expressed, among other things, a demand to end the war in Ukraine,” Siegmund said.

The AfD’s candidate for minister-president of Saxony-Anhalt described the election results as an unambiguous political signal.

“This is a clear call for peace. That is the decisive point,” he said.

Siegmund also spoke out against continuing aid to Ukraine, saying that his voters do not want to be “dragged” into the war and do not see the need to “send billions” to Kyiv.

The party leader called for all sides to “sit down at the negotiating table” and show “mutual respect.” He also stressed that “good relations with Russia are just as important to us as good relations with Ukraine, with the Americans, with the Chinese, or with anyone else.”

According to Bloomberg, the AfD’s victory in Germany is a sign of shifting European policy on Ukraine and Russia. Previously, members of Marine Le Pen’s party stated that France would halt its support for Kyiv if their leader won the presidential election.