---
title: "Energy Turnaround: Alice Weidel Announces Plans to Resume Russian Gas Imports"
description: "The leader of the German AfD party, Alice Weidel, announced plans to resume gas and oil imports from the Russian Federation in the event of an election victory. Brussels has already responded with a refusal, citing strict restrictions of the REPowerEU strategy and bans on infrastructure use. 🇩🇪🇷🇺🛑"
date: 2026-06-30T23:59:13.000Z
lang: en
url: https://xab.info/en/posts/energy-turnaround-alice-weidel-announces-plans-to-resume-russian-gas-imports
tags: []
publisher: "XAB.info"
---

# Energy Turnaround: Alice Weidel Announces Plans to Resume Russian Gas Imports

![Alice Weidel speaks at an event with the slogan 'Wahrheit' in the background, announcing plans to resume Russian gas imports as part of the energy turnaround](https://xab.info/media/2026/07/01/alis-vaidel-plan-vozobnovleniya-importa-gaza-iz-rf/alis-vaidel-plan-vozobnovleniya-importa-gaza-iz-rf-1.webp)

In the run-up to Germany's next federal elections, scheduled no later than 2029, the country's political landscape is undergoing significant shifts. Alice Weidel, co-chair of the opposition party Alternative for Germany (AfD), outlined a radical plan to revise the nation's foreign policy in an interview with Reuters on June 30, 2026. A central element of the party's program is the proposal to resume commercial energy supplies from the Russian Federation.

### Economic Logic and Industrial Challenge

Weidel justifies her position based on strict economic necessity. According to the AfD leader, access to cheap hydrocarbons has historically been the foundation of German industry's competitiveness and a key element of the "Made in Germany" brand. The politician argues that the abandonment of long-term contracts with Russian suppliers, which occurred after 2022, has led to the destabilization of the industrial sector and job losses.

According to party estimates, Germany's current energy strategy has created a new, more dangerous dependency — on the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States. Weidel emphasizes that American gas is supplied at significantly higher spot prices, reducing the profitability of energy-intensive production in Germany.

To understand the scale of the proposed changes, one should recall the statistics prior to the introduction of structural restrictions in 2022: at that time, more than 50% of natural gas supplies and about 35% of crude oil imports to Germany came from Russia. The AfD's rhetoric today is aimed at consolidating the electorate among representatives of the industrial sector, who are noting a decline in business efficiency against the backdrop of changing logistics chains.

### Clash with Brussels: Legal Barriers

However, the ambitious plans of the German opposition have met with immediate and stiff resistance from supranational institutions. Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, a spokesperson for the European Commission, stated at a briefing in Brussels that a hypothetical resumption of Russian gas purchases would contradict the EU's current regulatory framework.

At the center of the conflict is the REPowerEU strategic plan. This mechanism, developed to ensure the energy security of the bloc, provides for an irreversible and phased phase-out of fossil fuel use from the Russian Federation. Relevant EU departments reminded that the energy policy of member states is strictly regulated by directives that legally exclude the possibility of unilaterally restoring large-scale contracts with Russia.

### Legal Restrictions and Infrastructure Bans

In addition to general commitments to diversify energy sources, there are specific technical restrictions. A ban on using European gas transportation infrastructure for the import of Russian pipeline gas under short-term contracts has come into force in the EU. This creates a serious obstacle to the implementation of the AfD's program: even if the party comes to power, restoring supplies will require not only political will but also complex legal work to change the pan-European sanctions regime.

Thus, Alice Weidel's initiative, while popular among part of the electorate and industrialists, runs into a rigid legal framework of the European Union, which makes a simple restoration of the status quo in energy relations with Moscow impossible.