Germany's far-right AfD leadership and Russian President Vladimir Putin's top economic envoy have begun preparations to meet next year to discuss restarting gas supplies to Europe's biggest economy, a report said Friday.
The discussions for a meeting as early as March underline the close relations between Moscow and the AfD, which, although blocked from power by a coalition of its rivals, is Germany's most popular party with voters.
The meeting would be attended by Kirill Dmitriev, who is a close adviser to Putin and who heads Russia's sovereign wealth fund, as well as AfD co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the plan.
A spokesperson for the AfD and a representative for Dmitriev declined to comment.
Before the sanctions imposed over Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia supplied more than a third of Germany's crude oil imports and more than half of its natural gas.
The meeting would only happen if a peace framework was agreed first between Russia and Ukraine, and the organizers hoped it would bring together the AfD, Russia and the United States, one of the people said. Possible locations for the summit included Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or India, they added.
Weidel advocated the end of a boycott of Russian oil and gas to bolster Germany's flagging economy in an interview with Reuters in June.
Dmitriev was present at a meeting this month in Moscow with U.S. representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Organizers hoped Witkoff and Kushner would also attend the gas meeting, which would examine reopening the Russian Nord Stream gas pipelines, said the person.
A senior U.S. official told Reuters that Witkoff and Kushner have not been informed about or invited to the proposed summit.
AfD hopes to score with voters
Any gathering would be symbolic, since the AfD does not govern. But the preparations highlight the fragility of Germany's political system, where the longstanding refusal of mainstream parties to work with the far-right is being tested by the AfD's electoral success.
The AfD has just won a major victory to become the biggest party in a state election in Saxony-Anhalt, and faces another test of its popularity Sunday in an election in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The Russian Nord Stream gas pipelines enter Germany in this state.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Moscow welcomed the idea as "a positive and timely step."
"Involving Germany as a key European economy can create a broader platform for discussing issues that are significant both for these countries and for the rest of the world," said Robert Agee, President of AmCham Russia.
Germany has struggled to recover from the shock caused by the shutdown of the key undersea Nord Stream pipelines, some of which were crippled by explosions in September 2022.
But any effort to restart Russian gas supplies or Nord Stream would stoke fierce resistance, both in Germany and among its allies, particularly in Eastern Europe.
"Germany cannot become dependent on Russia again," said Michael Kellner, a Green lawmaker who was in charge of German energy policy in government during the crisis triggered by the cutoff of Russian gas following its invasion of Ukraine.
"We cannot repeat the mistakes of the energy crisis," he said. "It cost us 50 billion euros. We cannot want to go back to that. It would be treason. Putin is using the AfD to his own ends."
Roderich Kiesewetter, a member of parliament from Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats, said the AfD meeting could embolden those in his party who also favored buying Russian gas.
"The AfD is on Russia's side, willing to betray both Ukraine and Germany. Russia uses energy, especially Nord Stream, as a hybrid weapon for military purposes. Reopening Nord Stream would be a disaster for European security and isolate Germany."
The AfD has framed its call for a resumption of Russian gas supplies as pragmatic, with Weidel describing "cheap energy from Russia" as "the secret of the success of 'Made in Germany.'"
The AfD hopes the meeting can illustrate their competence in foreign policy and show up the government for inaction in tackling high energy prices, said one of the sources.
Germany's support for Ukraine has become increasingly divisive.
The country's relationship with Russia carries more weight in the east, which was under Soviet rule until the fall of the Berlin Wall more than 35 years ago. Many there take a sympathetic stance towards Russia and a critical view of Germany's military protector, the United States.