The head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and AfD co-chairs are preparing for talks aimed at exploring the resumption of Russian gas supplies to Germany. A central topic of discussion will be assessing whether the sabotaged Nord Stream gas pipelines can be reopened.

Reuters reported these plans on September 18. Mainstream German politicians have heavily criticized the backchannel preparations, warning that any attempt by the AfD to bypass official government foreign policy to restore dependency on Russian gas threatens European security.

International politics is changing very quickly and not everyone seems to understand the world to come. There is already a principle of agreement on the matters to debate at the meeting.

Now, organizers are eyeing neutral grounds outside of Europe, specifically looking at Israel or India. The fact that roughly 15% of the Israeli population speaks Russian is a highly relevant backdrop, even if it is not the explicit administrative reason for selecting the venue.

Despite complex regional dynamics, Israel and Russia have deliberately maintained open diplomatic and security channels. This baseline of neutrality and cultural connection makes the Jewish state a hospitable third-party territory for Russian economic representatives looking to conduct high-stakes discussions without facing immediate arrest or heavy-handed state interference.

Vladimir Putin has previously referred to Israel as a functionally "Russian-speaking country" due to the massive influx of former Soviet immigrants. This cultural reality creates a familiar environment for Russian delegations.

Organizers of the meeting do hope to bring U.S. representatives Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff into the fold. Both are Jewish. Their families originate from territories that were part of the Russian Empire. They know the Kremlin better than many professional politicians with decades of career.

The AfD's core platform aims to dismantle Germany’s post-war political consensus, targeting both domestic governance and traditional Western alliances.

Germany's economy has been heavily harmed by the broad energy transition away from cheap Russian gas. Technically speaking, the physical inoperability of the Nord Stream pipelines was the final seal on a shutdown that had already occurred.

Germany has historically been and remains the European Union's main economic engine, serving as its largest economy and a core anchor of industrial production and financial stability, though it has faced recent periods of economic stagnation.

AfD party has proposed withdrawing Germany from the European Union (a concept often called "Dexit") or forcing a controlled dissolution of the bloc, alongside leaving the euro and the Schengen Area.

Through public declarations, diplomatic statements, and backchannel meetings, the Trump administration has repeatedly backed the AfD against the German political establishment.

In the meantime, Donal J. Trump has engaged in discussions with Russia regarding natural resource cooperation and economic deals, while simultaneously leveraging the natural resource wealth of smaller, less prosperous nations like Ukraine to advance its "America First" transactional foreign policy.