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The Japan Times (8 September 2026)

James HERTLING

The Alternative for Germany’s record election victory in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday marked a milestone not just for the far right but for Europe’s tilt toward Vladimir Putin.

The anti-immigration party known by its German acronym, AfD, has openly sympathized with the Russian president’s attempt to batter Ukraine into submission, even as he stepped up his aggression toward the European Union. Days before the vote, Germany blamed Russia for a failed drone attack at an airport in Leipzig last month.

Pressed about the connection between the AfD and Russia, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the result would clearly please the Kremlin. “The goal of the Russian leadership is the destabilization of the value system that we have called the West,” Merz told reporters in Berlin after meeting the party leadership on Monday. “And this value system is not up for discussion.”

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