Putin envoy offers AfD economic cooperation ahead of state vote

A senior Kremlin envoy has openly offered economic cooperation with Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of a key state election on Sunday.

Voters in the north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern will elect a new parliament, with the AfD and the Social Democrats of incumbent state premier Manuela Schwesig locked in a close race. The AfD had led the polls for months before the SPD gained ground in the final stages of the campaign.

"Mecklenburg-Vorpommern will thrive again when affordable, reliable Nord Stream gas returns through joint work with AfD," Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin's envoy for international economic cooperation, wrote on X on Saturday.

"Lower energy bills, more jobs and higher growth."

In the past, Moscow has offered to resume supplying Germany with cheap gas through the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea if sanctions are lifted.

Only one of the original four Nord Stream pipeline strands remains intact following explosions that damaged Nord Stream 1 and 2 in 2022. The remaining strand is not in use.

"No more German energy and industrial suicide," Dmitriev wrote in response to a post by AfD co-leader Alice Weidel calling for political change in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Dmitriev is also one of Putin's chief negotiators in talks with the United States aimed at ending Russia's war against Ukraine.

While Putin has repeatedly spoken positively about the AfD, Moscow denies interfering in elections in other countries.

Dmitriev plans 2027 business forum with Germans

The AfD, like the populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), has called for Russian gas supplies to Germany to resume, arguing that cheaper Russian energy would benefit the German economy.

However, Sunday's state election will have no direct bearing on the issue. Russian pipeline gas is subject to European Union sanctions.

Dmitriev recently announced plans for a business forum in 2027 involving representatives from Germany, the United States and Russia.

He said more than 20 German companies had already expressed interest.