The AfD accuses Merz of applying “double standards” in an anti-Russian sense

The German far-right party, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which is aiming to secure a majority in Sunday’s elections in Saxony-Anhalt and thus govern a federal state for the first time, accuses the German government led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz of applying double standards towards Russia. Conclusive evidence is needed to accuse Moscow of acts of sabotage or attempted attacks in Germany, says the AfD, and the same rigour should be applied to other investigations, such as that into the explosion of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which was orchestrated by Ukraine (a trial is currently underway).

The AfD’s approach to Russian destabilisation is not merely identical to Moscow’s reaction to the explicit accusation levelled by Berlin, but it is the reason why Moscow has been relentlessly targeting Germany with a continuous series of increasingly brazen acts of sabotage since at least April 2025, ranging from attacks on railways and power grids to drone flyovers of military infrastructure (which Russia has mapped) to the 600 kilos of explosives at Leipzig Airport. The strategy is working: the AfD—which wants to suspend aid to Ukraine, favours Moscow over Brussels and NATO, and whose leader has said she feels ashamed that, after the Second World War, German tanks are once again being used against Russia—is on the rise. In other words, for the Kremlin, this is proof that ‘incidents’ and ‘hybrid’ attacks serve to fray the unity of the German people regarding the policy of countering Russia and defending Ukraine. Indeed, on closer inspection, what happened in Leipzig goes slightly beyond the threshold of destabilisation set by Moscow: it caused great alarm, led to a chorus of solidarity with the Berlin government, and served as a ‘wake-up call’, as the Europeans say – something the Russians, and indeed the AfD, wish to avoid. This is the very essence of so-called ‘hybrid’ warfare: to frighten, but not too much; to interfere, but without leaving too many traces; so that pro-Russian movements can continue to claim that defending oneself against Moscow is a costly folly. And so the paradox that is consuming part of Europe takes shape: Russia, the main threat to the continent’s security, is all the rage; it features in election manifestos as a geopolitical asset; it fascinates and corrupts. Meanwhile, it studies us, spies on us, challenges us and divides us, placing its allied parties ever closer to positions of power.