German Chancellor Candidate Says She Wants to "End Sanctions Policy" Against Russia

Alternative for Germany (AFD) candidate Alice Weidel said she wants to "end sanctions policy" against Russia and establish "very good relations" with Moscow, TASS reports.

"We want to establish very good relations with our European neighbors, <…> as well as with the superpowers. <…> This also applies to Russia. What we want is to end the sanctions policy, which primarily harms our country," she said in an interview with the Bild newspaper.

Weidel emphasized that energy prices have skyrocketed in Europe amid sanctions. According to her, the continent's countries have also "lost competitiveness" in the global economy.

In its program, previously published in the run-up to the early parliamentary elections in Germany scheduled for February 23, AfD also advocated the lifting of economic sanctions against Russia, the restoration of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, and the development of cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union. The document also notes that, according to AfD, Ukraine should be a neutral state in the future, not a member of the European Union or NATO.