German chancellor pledges to maintain tough Russia policy after Saxony-Anhalt election

German chancellor pledges to maintain tough Russia policy after Saxony-Anhalt election Friedrich Merz also pledged to continue supporting UkraineBERLIN, September 8. /TASS/. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has stated that he does not intend to change his governing coalition’s policy toward Russia or its support for Ukraine, despite the decisive victory of the Alternative for Germany party and growing support for opposition forces in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament election. "I will not retreat one millimeter from my fundamental conviction that we must defend our freedom, including against Russia. I will probably have to explain this much more often and much more intensely," Merz said at a press conference in Berlin. He also pledged to continue supporting Ukraine. The German chancellor also addressed the recent high-profile incident involving the discovery of a drone at Leipzig/Halle Airport. Responding to criticism from politicians who considered the public accusations premature, Merz stressed that he had deliberately decided to promptly inform the public about the results of the investigation. "Some may consider this tactically wrong. But I did not want to wait any longer to share this information with the public, along with the conclusions to be drawn from it. I will act in exactly the same way in the future," the German chancellor emphasized. On September 1, the German government officially blamed Russia for the drone incident at Leipzig/Halle Airport in early August and announced the termination of operations at the Russian House, the closure of Moscow’s Consulate General in Bonn and other measures. Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechayev firmly rejected all accusations made by Berlin, calling them unfounded and absurd. The diplomat stated that Russian House employees must leave Germany within seven days. Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier pointed out that Germany’s new anti-Russian decisions, taken under the pretext of the drone incident at Leipzig Airport, were another grave mistake by the German authorities, running counter to the interests of their people. In his view, these decisions are linked to Germany’s domestic political situation and, in particular, Merz’s difficult position. The Saxony-Anhalt state parliament election was held on September 6. According to preliminary official results, the Alternative for Germany party won a decisive victory with 43.8% of the vote. The German chancellor’s Christian Democratic Union of Germany came in second, losing more than half of its support compared with 2021. The Christian Democrats received only 17.2% of the vote, their worst result in Saxony-Anhalt. The Social Democratic Party of Germany came third with 9.3% of the vote, followed by the Greens with 8.9% and the Left Party with 8.6%. The BSW party of Sahra Wagenknecht also entered the state parliament with 5.3%. 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