The face of the German left (Die Linke) Sarah Wagenknecht, known for a consistent pro -Russian position, which was not even affected by a full -scale invasion of Russia, announced the establishment of its own political force.
This is extremely alarming news for Kiev - Wagenknecht belongs to representatives of Putinversstecher in Germany (literally - those who understand Putin).
It advocates for the cessation of weapons supply to Ukraine, immediate peace talks with Putin and the restoration of cheap energy imports from Russia.
However, in this political field, it can be much more successful than the traditional "Friends of Putin" - an alternative for Germany.
Therefore, it is worthwhile to dwell on her person and the chances of a pro -Russian figure to influence Germany's policy in the future.
Left split
Sarah Wagenknecht is a German policy veteran born in the German and Iranian family. It grew in Eastern Germany and in 1989 entered the Marxist-Leninist Socialist Unified Party, which rules in the Socialist German Democratic Republic. Since the formation of the traditionally pro -Russian Die Linke party in 2007, Wagenknecht has been its most prominent figure.
On October 23, in Berlin, along with several like -minded Wagenknecht, she told reporters to create an association that will be named - "Alliance Sarah Wagenknecht - for reason and justice" (Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht, abbreviated - BSW).
The purpose of this Association would be the establishment of a new party in January next year, so that in June the political force would participate in the elections to the European Parliament and in the future overthrow, according to her, the "worst in the history" of Germany.
Wagenknecht also hopes that her new project is competing in the local elections in the three Eastern Federal Lands, which will be held in 2024 - Brandenburg, Thurinium and Saxony.
It is important that all these three regions are key to the far -right "Alternative for Germany" ("ADN"), where the party is leading in polls and may suffer from the appearance in the lists of future BSW parties.
However, in announcing her plans, Vagenknecht made it clear that he wanted to attract voters from both the right and left political spectrum, and mostly those who are disappointed with current policies, and as the latest surveys show .
"Many no longer know who to vote for or vote for the right of anger and despair. So we can not last. Otherwise we may not recognize our country in ten years," she said.
Previously, Alliance Sarah Wagenknecht must carry out preparatory work and collect donations.
Although there is no de jure Vagenknecht yet, it already beats the left in the Bundestag.
Since some of the left deputies will move to the new project of Wagenknecht, Die Linke is likely to lose the status of a faction in parliament, and with it - significant funding from the Bundestag budget.
The positions of the left were fragile and without split from Vagenknecht: Die Linke is present in parliament only because of the peculiarities of the German electoral system, which received three direct mandates in the 2021 elections. Then the party did not overcome the 5 percent barrier and received 4.9%.
Catch up with Scholz
Even before the Berlin announcement of Vagenknecht, the survey showed that her new brainchild has a considerable chance of shooting successfully.
27% of respondents, according to Insa for Bild Am Sonntag, are quite imagined that they could vote for this party.
Particularly good prospects are among the supporters of "Adn" and the Eastern Germans. 40% of the ADN voters and 32% of Eastern Germany said they could vote for a new political force.
And this is not surprising, because in many ways, such as counteraction to migration or relations with Russia, the far -right and ultra -right are like -minded (this will be discussed next).
This is the advantage of the Vagenknecht party.
For a new political force, they are ready to vote those voters for whom voting for far -right is morally unacceptable.
Insa survey , which was published five days after Benefis, Wagenknecht in Berlin, raised its potential project to fourth place among all parties-with almost the same result as the Social Democrats Olaf Solz: 14% against 15%.
It is noteworthy that most of the appearance of the Vagenknecht party in the survey was affected by Putin's Friends from the far -right "Alternative for Germany", which have recently experienced a jump in popularity.
They lost four percentages (from 21% to 17%), while the opposition CDU/CSS lost two (from 31% to 29%), all three coalition parties - one at one (SDP from 16% to 15%, "greenery" from 13% to 12%, "free Democrats" from 6% to 5%).
This means that Wagenknecht's project can potentially select voices from all political forces present in the Bundestag while the Scholz coalition reaches all new peaks of unpopularity.
Another 4% of the Wagenknecht Party "bite" in other parties that are not represented in parliament. Only Die Linke's support has not changed and survived at 4% - but this is not enough to enter the Bundestag.
On the far -right field
Since the Wagenknecht party is only in the process of creation, its program has not yet been outlined. But the observers believe that the future political force will become a project of a leading type created under one person.
For modern Germany, this is a political experiment, because there are no successful analogues of this approach. Usually parties are formed around ideologies, not a specific personality.
Given the rhetoric that heards from the mouth of Vagenknecht, the party will promote left economic policy and will probably be populist. In this regard, it will enter the electoral field "Alternatives for Germany", criticizing the political establishment as a whole.
Another common position of the ADN party is the EU's economic reaction to Russia in Ukraine.
Like the far -right, Wagenknecht criticizes the policy of anti -Russian sanctions.
She will also be close to ADN in her refugee policy. Wagenknecht professes an approach to limiting migration, since unregulated migration, she said, exacerbates "problems in schools, especially in poorer residential areas."
While the left want to accelerate the fight against climate change, the Ultral leader wants to move away from "blind ecoactivism", which does not benefit from climate.
She also wants to preserve the "economic power" of Germany, maintain "social justice" and pursue "peace -oriented" foreign policy.
For "compromise" peace
Wagenknecht played the Kremlin both to the full -scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine and after it.
In particular, in April, The Washington Post published data on the plans of the Russian Federation on the undermination of Ukraine's support in Germany, according to which Russia planned an " anti -war coalition " with the participation of German far -right and ultra -right, including Sarah Wagenknecht.
Although there was no obvious evidence of her work on the Russian Federation, her public position was clearly in favor of the Kremlin.
Wagenknecht believes that good relations with Russia are in the interests of Europe. She refers to Germany's foreign policy during Chancellor Willy Brandt. The website of the newly created Association states that Europe "requires a stable security architecture, which should also include Russia in the long run."
After the start of the full -scale war, the Russian Federation Wagenknecht with several left -handed was accused of Washington of the fact that his policy in recent years is "significant correspondence for the situation."
Due to Wagenknecht's statements about the Russian-Ukrainian war, Die Linke fell into regular crises. In particular, she accused the German government of an "unprecedented economic war against our most important energy supplier", which provoked the resignation in the party due to disagreement with its position.
After this statement, more than 800 members left the party in just a few weeks - the most in the history of the left.
Following the disclosure of Russian crimes in Bucha Wagenknecht, Ukraine insisted that Ukraine should continue peace talks with Russia, which was then conducted in Istanbul. She argued that the United States was profitable to delay the war to maximize Russia.
This year, in February, Wagenknecht became a co -author of the manifesto for peace, which collected almost 900,000 signatures, claiming that Ukraine cannot win the war against the largest nuclear state in the world.
The petition called for "peace talks" with "compromises" for both parties and demanded that the official Berlin "stop escalation" of supply of weapons. A few days after the anniversary of the full -scale invasion of Russian Wagenknecht organized a few thousand rally "for peace" in Berlin.
And in a recent interview with Der Spiegel, she stated that the event should offer Russia an "agreement": it stops supplying weapons to Ukraine, and the Russian Federation "stops fire" and goes to "peace talks".
The Agreement, which is put forward by Vagenknecht, actually proposes to freeze the front line and excludes the return of the Ukrainian territories by military.
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It is too early to predict whether Wagenknecht's project will achieve success. However, if this happens, a new influential political force that plays on the Kremlin's side is more powerful in Germany than today Die Linke.
And at the same time, this party may be more dangerous than an "alternative for Germany" - because it is more psychologically to support the ups of ultra -right psychologically than the far -right.
Especially in a situation where in many positions their programs coincide.
