标签： Europe

Diplomatic tensions between Russia and Germany have surged to a new low this week, as Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced Monday it will shutter Germany’s consulate general in St. Petersburg — the latest retaliatory measure in a rapidly expanding cycle of reciprocal diplomatic actions. The escalation traces back to an alleged attempted drone strike at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport in early August, a plot Berlin has openly blamed on Russian actors.

According to the official Russian Foreign Ministry statement, all operations at the St. Petersburg German consulate must cease, and all consular staff are required to exit Russian territory by September 18. The announcement also reaffirmed an earlier order to close two German-run cultural institutions, the Goethe-Institut centers in Moscow and St. Petersburg, giving their personnel until this coming Sunday to leave the country.

Moscow framed the entire set of measures as a direct response to what it called Germany’s “unfriendly” actions taken just last Wednesday. In that move, Berlin ordered the shutdown of Russia’s consulate in the western German city of Bonn, as well as the Russian House cultural center located in the heart of Berlin, Germany’s capital.

The root of the current confrontation lies in the August 4 incident at Leipzig/Halle Airport, a critical European cargo hub that frequently handles shipments of military and humanitarian aid bound for Ukraine amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. German authorities discovered an explosive-laden drone positioned in close proximity to a Ukrainian cargo plane parked at the airport; the device was successfully disarmed before it could cause any harm or casualties.

Russian officials have flatly denied any connection to the attempted attack, with Moscow characterizing the entire incident as a deliberate provocation staged against Russia. “It was the German authorities who once again provoked a new round of escalation in bilateral relations,” the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed in its statement Monday. “All responsibility for the consequences lies entirely with the German government.”

This latest exchange comes amid a broader pattern of accusations from Western governments, which have repeatedly claimed Moscow is orchestrating a coordinated campaign of sabotage and disruptive activities across Western nations. Western officials argue these actions are intended to erode public and political support for Ukraine, and to destabilize domestic political order in European countries. The Kremlin has consistently rejected all such allegations as unfounded and misleading.

Over the 13 years since its founding, Germany’s far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) has evolved from a fringe political movement to a major national force — yet it has never held a seat in any state or federal governing coalition. This exclusion has been sustained by what political observers call a long-standing “firewall”: a cross-ideological agreement among all mainstream German parties to reject any formal or informal cooperation with the party.

Now, that unbroken policy faces its most severe challenge. In Sunday’s regional election in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, AfD secured a resounding landslide victory, taking 43.8% of the vote — more than double its share from the state’s previous election five years ago. Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), by contrast, lost roughly half of its voter support in the race.

The refusal to cooperate with AfD stems from more than just ideological divides. Germany’s domestic intelligence agency classifies AfD as an extremist extremist in multiple regions, including Saxony-Anhalt itself. For German society, deeply shaped by its reckoning with the horrors of the Nazi dictatorship, any mainstream collaboration with a far-right nationalist party carries unique historical sensitivity. For decades, most Germans held the conviction that post-war education, legal safeguards against persecution, and public reckoning with the past had built permanent national immunity to racist nationalism. Recent electoral shifts have upended that belief: across Germany, mirroring far-right gains across Europe, voters are increasingly turning to the AfD, which has repeatedly rejected accusations of anti-democratic and anti-constitutional views.

This is not the first time regional politics have forced mainstream parties to contort themselves to keep AfD out of power. Two years ago, when AfD became the largest party in the neighboring eastern state of Thuringia, mainstream parties spanning left, center and right formed an ideologically fractured three-party coalition just to maintain the firewall. The pattern repeated at the national level last year, when AfD posted the best result for a far-right party since World War II, rising to become the largest opposition bloc in federal parliament. Merz, whose CDU led government formation, upheld the anti-cooperation firewall by forming an unpopular grand coalition with the center-left Social Democrats, keeping AfD out of national power.

But the scale of the Saxony-Anhalt win has left the future of the firewall in doubt. AfD’s lead candidate for state governor, Ulrich Siegmund, has positioned himself to become the first far-right head of a regional German government since 1945. He has already announced plans to reach out to all parties and individual lawmakers in the new state parliament to build a governing majority, and has ruled out leading a minority AfD government.

The small hard-left BSW party, which won 5.3% of the vote, has emerged as the potential kingmaker. AfD and BSW share key policy priorities: both take a Russia-friendly diplomatic stance and oppose mass immigration, even as they disagree on many other domestic issues. On Monday, BSW’s lead Saxony-Anhalt candidate Thomas Schulze openly confirmed his party’s willingness to support an AfD-led government in the state parliament, opening a path for the far right to take power.

A governing coalition that excludes AfD would require the cooperation of five separate parties: the CDU, Social Democrats, Greens, Left Party, and BSW. Political analysts widely agree that such a broad, ideologically fragmented five-party coalition would be unprecedented in German regional politics, exceedingly difficult to negotiate, and highly vulnerable to collapse once in power. There is also a persistent wild card: if just three sitting lawmakers from other parties defect to AfD, the party would immediately secure a governing majority on its own.

While top CDU officials reiterated the party’s commitment to the firewall immediately after Sunday’s result, other regional actors have signaled openness to breaking the long-standing taboo. Political analyst Volker Resing told the Associated Press that AfD’s strong showing, paired with BSW’s willingness to negotiate, could finally break through the decades-old barrier. “This tiny party could now play a decisive role in determining the future of Saxony-Anhalt,” Resing noted, adding that it remains uncertain whether shared policy positions on Russia and immigration will be enough to overcome decades of political convention and deliver Germany its first post-WWII far-right state government.

BRUSSELS – On a landmark visit that underscores growing European interest in the Arctic region, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a €200 million ($232 million) strategic investment package for Greenland on Monday, as the bloc moves to deepen diplomatic and economic ties with the semi-autonomous Danish territory.

Following a trio of high-level meetings that brought together von der Leyen, Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, the two sides signed a joint EU-Greenland declaration cementing their new partnership. “Greenland can count on the EU,” von der Leyen affirmed during the ceremony, framing the investment as a long-term commitment to the island’s development and regional stability.

As a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, a core NATO member, Greenland has risen sharply in global geopolitical prominence since former U.S. President Donald Trump first publicly pushed claims that the United States should acquire the island for national security purposes. Trump’s repeated assertions sparked immediate sovereignty fears among both Greenlandic and Danish leadership, triggered widespread pushback, and stoked unprecedented tensions within the NATO alliance.

In a show of collective support for Greenland’s sovereignty earlier this year, Denmark and seven other European allies deployed a small contingent of military personnel to the island for publicly announced military exercises focused on bolstering Arctic security, a move widely interpreted as a unified response to Trump’s territorial claims. In retaliation, Trump threatened to impose sweeping new tariffs on Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. European leaders pushed back firmly against the pressure, issuing a joint statement warning that “tariff threats undermine trans-Atlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral” while reaffirming their unwavering commitment to upholding Greenlandic sovereignty. The standoff ultimately de-escalated after NATO reached a new regional security agreement, and Trump backed down from his territorial demands.

The multi-sector investment package announced Monday targets key areas of Greenlandic development: it will fund upgrades to education programs and fisheries management, expand broadband internet connectivity across the sparsely populated island, modernize existing hydropower infrastructure, and support sustainable development of Greenland’s abundant reserves of critical raw minerals. Additional funding is allocated to expanding affordable housing, providing targeted support for local small and medium enterprises, and building out a sustainable tourism sector that aligns with the island’s environmental protection goals.

Von der Leyen emphasized the strategic logic of the EU’s growing engagement, noting that the investment partnership “will create new opportunities and establish a strong and engaged EU in both Greenland and the Arctic, because Greenland is a strategic ally and a trusted friend.”

Coinciding with von der Leyen’s visit, 11 NATO countries launched the 12-day Arctic Shield military exercises in Greenland on Monday, bringing together roughly 400 military personnel, including elite special forces trained for Arctic operations from Canada, Denmark and Finland. Notably, no U.S. troops are participating in the drills, which are scheduled to run through September 18.

BERLIN — In a historic shift for German regional politics, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has notched its strongest electoral performance to date, propelled by the approach of 35-year-old party leader Ulrich Siegmund, who has worked to soften the group’s radical image while clinging to its core extremist positions. The party secured a resounding victory in Sunday’s regional election in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, but stopped just short of an outright majority, leaving its bid to form Germany’s first far-right state government since World War II hanging in the balance.

Siegmund, who was born just weeks after German reunification in October 1990, has emerged as a carefully cultivated public face for the AfD, blending youth-focused energy with targeted nostalgia for past eras that resonates with disaffected eastern German voters. Across Saxony-Anhalt’s campaign trail, his face dominated every AfD campaign poster under the rallying motto “everything is possible.” At public events, crowds of supporters — many sporting custom T-shirts printed with Siegmund’s portrait — lined up for hours to snap selfies and exchange brief words with the candidate.

Unlike many high-profile AfD figures known for abrasive, openly provocative rhetoric, Siegmund has deliberately steered clear of inflammatory public statements, framing himself as a relatable “man of the people” to win over voters who would otherwise reject the party’s well-documented radical stances, which include hardline pro-Russian policy, sweeping anti-immigration positions, and far-right extremist ideology. Despite his moderated public tone, Siegmund remains uncompromising on the AfD’s core platform. Following the election, he made clear the party would not abandon its core beliefs to form a coalition government.

Siegmund’s political trajectory began with a short early stint in Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union, the party of current Chancellor Friedrich Merz, before he defected to the AfD. A business management graduate who previously worked in commercial air freshener sales, he is far from a political newcomer: he has served as a legislator in Saxony-Anhalt’s Magdeburg-based state parliament for a decade, and has held the role of co-leader of the AfD’s parliamentary caucus there since 2022. He first built a large loyal following on social media through his vocal criticism of COVID-19 public health restrictions, capitalizing on widespread public discontent to grow his base.

A central pillar of Siegmund’s campaign has been deliberate nostalgia, echoing voter demands for what he frames as “the old, safe Germany back.” He has specifically courted lingering nostalgia for former communist East Germany among older eastern voters, most notably through iconic campaign appearances on vintage Simson mopeds, a beloved East German-manufactured brand. He even arrived at his hometown polling station in Tangermuende on one of the vehicles to cement that image. That choice, however, has sparked significant backlash: the Simson family, whose Jewish ancestors were stripped of their company by the Nazis in the 1930s before fleeing to the United States, has publicly condemned the AfD’s use of the brand.

The Saxony-Anhalt regional branch of the AfD is one of multiple AfD state organizations officially classified as a confirmed right-wing extremist group by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency. Siegmund also faced scrutiny over his attendance at a 2023 secret meeting in Potsdam, where a leading figure in the extremist Identitarian Movement laid out a radical “remigration” plan calling for the mass deportation of immigrants and German citizens with immigrant backgrounds. When the meeting was exposed months later, it sparked massive nationwide protests. As a result of his attendance, Siegmund was removed from his post as chair of the state legislature’s social affairs committee. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing, claiming his presence at the meeting did not equal an endorsement of the plan.

Incumbent Saxony-Anhalt Governor Sven Schulze, when asked in a recent televised debate whether he considered Siegmund a right-wing extremist, declined to issue a direct personal judgment, but noted that “I know who he surrounds himself with,” adding that “very extreme people” make up Siegmund’s closest political circle. The AfD has repeatedly and vehemently rejected all accusations of extremism. Just last month, Siegmund sought to reassure voters, claiming that “no one here needs to be afraid, quite the contrary. Every honest person in Saxony-Anhalt will benefit from an AfD-led government.”

Political analysts note that Siegmund’s carefully crafted public image is the key to the AfD’s historic gains in Saxony-Anhalt. “He manages to come over as likable, open, always smiling,” explained Wolfgang Merkel, a political science professor at the WBZ Berlin Social Science Center. Unlike other prominent AfD leaders, Siegmund deliberately avoids abrasive, overtly ideological or provocative language. “He is avoiding major conflicts at present; that doesn’t have to mean that he is a moderate, or conservative. He isn’t,” Merkel noted ahead of the election, adding that “whether he can govern is something he still has to prove.”