Russland kürzt die Öllieferungen an Ostdeutschland, um die AfD vor den Wahlen anzukurbeln

A sudden halt to Kazakh crude shipments threatens eastern German fuel security. The perfectly timed disruption hands the AfD a powerful weapon ahead of regional elections.

Berlin insists that Russia’s decision to halt Kazakh crude deliveries via the northern Druzhba pipeline from May 1 will not trigger a nationwide fuel crisis. The cutoff does, however, underscore the Schwedt refinery’s critical role in guaranteeing fuel security for the capital region and broader eastern Germany.

Moscow has confirmed that Kazakh oil previously bound for Germany will now be redirected. Russian officials vaguely cited „technical possibilities” for the shift, whereas Kazakhstan’s energy minister attributed the disruption to recent strikes on Russian infrastructure. The loss of these deliveries is significant since the route accounted for roughly 17 percent of crude supply for the PCK Schwedt facility. Germany imported 2.146 million tonnes of Kazakh oil through the Druzhba network in 2025 alone, alongside another 730,000 tonnes in the first quarter of 2026. This shortfall is acutely felt because Schwedt processes the vast majority of Berlin’s fuel and a substantial portion of Brandenburg’s.

German authorities are pointing to alternative delivery routes through Rostock and Gdańsk to ease concerns. Yet the disruption arrives at a highly sensitive political juncture. Poland’s pipeline operator PERN has offered to transport crude for Schwedt’s non-Russian shareholders if requested. The complication is that Rosneft still owns 54.17 percent of the facility, even though the German government currently exercises long-term trusteeship over the Russian company’s local assets.

The timing of this supply shock is critical. Saxony-Anhalt holds state elections on September 6, followed by Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on September 20. The AfD currently leads the polls in both states and has openly campaigned to resume Russian oil and gas imports. Regardless of the actual operational cause, this disruption serves Moscow’s interests perfectly. It places renewed pressure on eastern Germany’s energy security and provides the AfD with a prime opportunity to weaponize fuel anxieties into electoral gains.

East Germany? This is so 80’s

This could be used by the Green party as an argument against AfD who are still pushing for fossil fuel despite very obvious downsides. 

They really said East Germany with their whole chest. 

EU has one authoritarian communist party too few to act efficiently and wean itself off hydrocarbons.

So, just another Russian oil supply we need to decouple from, anyway. Too bad about the afd, though.

No matter how u put it, its more than Clear that AfD is Putins Asset in Germany, and according to latest polls, its working pretty good for Putin. Fortunately, AfD has Nation wide no political partner to gain majority with, but its already getting pretty scary. And as we all know from History, the bigger the crisis (like the one from 1930s that helped Hitler) the more likely extremists/populists party will rise and gain more votes.

And looks like Mr Merz is not exactly helping to stop it either.

AfD is kind of far right but may actually make Germany more competent. It will be more difficult to deal with than the decadent and suicidal progressive left.

Russia is basically choosing less short term resistance than long term gains.

I thought EU was upset that Indian/China not sanctioning russia for its invasion of Ukraine, but somehow Germany has been buying russia oils all the time as well?

Maybe it will have the reverse effect Russian wants.

Why are they still buying oil to begin with, lol

Germany supplies massive amounts of ammunition and funding that are actively supporting strikes on Russian refineries, pipelines, and supertankers. For a country at war, it’s not surprising that Russia would restrict exports to states supplying its enemy. I’m not saying ukraine is wrong for doing those strikes, but expecting Russia to prioritize supplying Germany while Germany is backing Ukraine doesn’t make much sense. Even if Russia has some excess capacity, there’s little incentive to do so especially after losing significant refining capacity and oil depots over the past few months.