In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a German politician, Sahra Wagenknecht (@SWagenknecht). She’s best-known for her praise of Russia, fighting against the Western sanctions set against Russia, and for her attempts to stop the military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War.

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Wagenknecht started her political career at a young age, and she eventually became a prominent member of the Party of Democratic Socialism during the early 90s. After the foundation of the far-left party Die Linke, she joined the party and became a leader of its...

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...Marxist-Leninist sub-faction called the Communist Platform. Sahra has been referred as the 3rd most popular politician in Germany, but throughout her career, she has also been a controversial figure due to her populist takes on DDR, immigration and Russia.

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Even though she’s been spending most of her political career in leftist parties, her political views & statements don’t really fit this shoe. As a matter of fact, her statements on immigration, comments on Russia & even her economical views fit better to the far-right mindset.
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One could even say, that with Wagenknecht we see the horseshoe theory in action. In Germany, there is even a term for this: querfront (cross-front).

It originates from the Weimar politics referring to the cooperation between the far-right and far-left.

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When it comes to NATO and Russia, Sahra has a clear stance. In 2017, she called for the dissolution of NATO. Throughout her career as a politician, she’s called for closer relations with Russia, and in 1992 she published an essay praising Stalinist Russia.

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Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, she argued that the US were trying to “conjure up” an invasion, “Russia has in fact no interest in marching into Ukraine”. During the same speech, she also stated that NATO has forced Moscow into a corner with their expansion.

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She still opposed the sanctions imposed on Russia, stating that the German government had launched “an unprecedented economic war against our most important energy supplier.”

After the speech, she was applauded by members of the far-right party AfD:


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https://x.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1688475826763776000

Back in February 2023, Wagenknecht, together with AfD, organized large rallies in many German cities. These protests called to end any military aid to Ukraine. Few months later, WaPo exposed that the Kremlin had been trying to create an “antiwar coalition” in Germany, ..
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...and Russian officials had allegedly met with AfD members on the issue, suggesting that the rallies weren’t as organic as they appeared. Unsurprisingly, similar protests like the “Rage Against the War Machine” were organized in the United States:

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https://x.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1652211607609507840

Few weeks before the rallies, Wagenknecht and Alice Schwarzer had collected signatures for “peace manifesto”, calling for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and halting the arms deliveries to Ukraine. They manifesto has almost 900 000 signatures.

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According to her, weapon supplies to Ukraine are “highly dangerous” and they “escalate the conflict”. Mrs Wagenknecht seems completely oblivious to the fact that Putin’s Russia has been waging imperialistic wars since the start of the 2nd Chechen War in 1999.

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In one interview, Sahra claimed that the war isn’t about “Putin’s nationalism”, rather than about the neutrality of Ukraine. We should of course remember that Russia started the war already back in 2014 by annexing Crimea and fueling pro-Russia protests all around Ukraine.

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In October 2023, Wagenknecht announced her intention to start a new political far-left party. One survey put the new party at 12% nationally, a pretty significant number in German politics. As a populist pro-Kremlin party, it will probably also steal some votes from AfD.

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In Jul 2022, Sahra’s ex-husband Ralph T. Niemeyer founded a “shadow government” in Russia and adressed Putin directly about this. In February 2022 Niemeyer suggested that Sahra should become the “Präsidal-Kanzlerin” of Germany and called her “incorruptible”.

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To conclude: Sahra has positioned herself as the Kremlin’s friend since the beginning of her political career. She’s always been supportive of Russo-German collaboration (and Russian imperialism) & she’s ready to throw Ukraine under the bus for cheap Russian energy.

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