Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) founder Sahra Wagenknecht blamed NATO’s eastward expansion for contributing to tensions that led to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and warned against Germany being drawn into a confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia.
Speaking at BSW’s final campaign rally ahead of Berlin’s state election on Friday, Wagenknecht argued that Russian opposition to NATO forces and missiles near its borders had been a key factor leading to the war.
“The reason for this war was that the Russians said they don’t want any NATO military; they don’t want any NATO missiles along their border,” she said. “And now we need to get out. We have to get out.”
Wagenknecht also criticised Germany’s increased military spending, arguing that conventional rearmament would not protect the country in a direct conflict with Russia.
“We must do everything to ensure this war does not come to us,” she stressed. “A war with Russia. That will not be fought with tanks; it will not even be fought with drones. If it truly breaks out, it would eventually be fought with missiles.”
The BSW leader also questioned the German government’s attribution of an August drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport to Russia.
“The Russians are so amateurish, if they wanted to attack us, that they would send a completely amateurishly built drone that circles over Leipzig Airport for hours until a bus driver finally spots it and disables it with a kick,” she remarked, noting that she found the account ‘really not very plausible’.
German authorities accused Russia of the attempted attack, in which an explosive-equipped drone was found at the airport, while Moscow denied responsibility.
BSW politician Fabio De Masi also criticised higher defence spending, arguing that expenditure on weapons could come at the expense of pensions and other social programmes.
The rally came two days before Berlin’s state election on September 20, with BSW seeking to clear the five-percent threshold required to enter the state parliament. Recent polls have put the party between four and five percent.
Source: Viory
