Ayhan Simsek
10 September 2026•Update: 10 September 2026
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is considering withdrawing the country’s highly classified defense plan from Saxony-Anhalt if the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) forms a government there, German media reported Thursday.
The more than 1,000-page document, known as OPLAN Deutschland, sets out core measures for national and NATO defense in a crisis or war. Officials say the scenario they prepare for now is a confrontation with Russia. In that case, Germany would become a logistics hub for alliance troops moving toward NATO’s eastern flank.
RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) reported that Pistorius, a Social Democrat and a prominent opponent of the AfD, raised the idea on Tuesday in front of defense policymakers from the governing coalition parties. The discussion is driven by fears that Russia-friendly AfD politicians could pass the plan to Moscow, increasing Germany’s security risk.
Rainer Robra, a conservative CDU politician who still heads Saxony-Anhalt’s state chancellery, warned against any move to withhold security information. “I cannot imagine how the constitutionally required cooperation among the states is supposed to work if the state of Saxony-Anhalt is excluded from domestic or defense policy information,” he told RND.
The anti-immigration AfD won 43.8% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt’s Sept. 6 state election, taking 39 of 83 seats, short of the 42 needed for an absolute majority. Left-populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which officials also describe as close to Russia, announced that it has accepted AfD’s invitation for talks, to bring about a change in policies.
The conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens, and the Left Party rejected any cooperation or coalition with the AfD, saying they would not work with a party that the state domestic intelligence service has classified as a “proven right-wing extremist” organization.
Party founder Sahra Wagenknecht has ruled out a formal coalition with the AfD but has not categorically excluded other forms of political support. She said the party wants a cross-party premier standing for a political new start who must also be acceptable to the AfD and its voters.
In a social media post, Wagenknecht said a majority in Saxony-Anhalt wants change and that the BSW would talk with the AfD about motions on shared priorities — affordable energy and a restart of Russian gas via the Nord Stream pipeline, reform of public broadcasting, and opposition to arms deliveries to Ukraine.
