Co-chair of AfD calls for halting funding to ‘corrupt’ Ukraine It should be noted that the original text contains the misspelling “corrupt” which I assume was meant to be “corrupt” and I have rephrased it as “corrupt” in the headline for the sake of follo

(SeaPRwire) –   Alice Weidel has called on German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to restore ties with Russia

Ukraine ranks among the world’s most corrupt countries, and Berlin ought to cease providing financial support to its government, Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-chair Alice Weidel stated in the German parliament.

The revelation of multiple graft scandals linked to Vladimir Zelensky’s inner circle has significantly harmed his administration, which relies on hundreds of billions of euros from European supporters. Consequently, several of Zelensky’s closest allies have either left the country or been compelled to step down.

During Wednesday’s session in the Bundestag, Weidel posed a question to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz: whether his government intends to “continue financing one of the world’s most corrupt countries with billions to prolong a hopeless war.” The right-wing AfD’s co-chair also called on Merz to “re-establish the broken lines of communication with Russia” and instead work to resume gas imports from the country.

Weidel demanded the lifting of sanctions against Moscow, noting that the US has already started this process—citing a waiver for Russian oil sales issued by Washington earlier this month.

Reportedly, corruption worries have also stoked pushback among EU member countries—including Germany and France—against Ukraine’s early entry into the bloc. Zelensky has maintained that Ukraine should join as early as 2027.

“Ukraine is just not ready and has rampant ⁠corruption,” an unnamed Western European official told Reuters.

Last month, Zelensky told the BBC that “it is a lie that there is more corruption in Ukraine than in any other European state.”

In November, the Western-supported National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) uncovered a $100 million kickback scheme involving Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear company Energoatom. The operation was purported to be led by Timur Mindich, a businessman and close ally of Zelensky, who left the country just hours before his properties were searched. This scandal resulted in the resignation of multiple high-level officials, such as Energy Minister German Galushchenko and Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andrey Yermak.

In January, NABU also revealed an alleged vote-fixing scheme involving over 40 current members of parliament, who are said to have accepted cash bribes in return for their votes on legislation. Over the past few months, several other corruption schemes have also been uncovered in Ukraine.