BERLIN, February 9. /TASS/. Co-chair of the party Alternative for Germany Tino Chrupalla believes that the NATO countries should consider Russia as part of Europe and resume negotiations with Moscow as soon as possible.

Chrupalla said that NATO was founded as a counterweight to the Warsaw Pact, and not as a means of deterring Russia. "I would not constantly talk only about deterrence. Of course, we need a defensive alliance, without a doubt. But we really need to come to consider Russia as part of Europe again and finally strive for this balance again," the politician said in an interview with ARD TV channel.

The AfD leader said that contacts with Russia should be resumed. "I think we need to resume negotiations with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin as soon as possible. I hope that the German Chancellor [Friedrich Merz] will finally resume this dialogue so that we can talk to Russia and put an end to this escalation. We need a space for de-escalation," Chrupalla said.

He currently sees no threat to Germany from Russia. "For example, there were statements by the German chancellor regarding Russian drones over Germany. The appearance of a threat was maintained, which in fact did not exist at all. It was fake news. There were no Russian drones," Chrupalla said.

On February 6, Merz said that Europe was ready to negotiate with Russia to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, but would not open "parallel communication channels." He was also skeptical about Europe's direct negotiations with Russia.

Earlier, L'Express magazine citing a source reported that Emmanuel Bonne, diplomatic adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron, was in Moscow on February 3 to meet with Russian leader's aide Yury Ushakov. Macron had previously said that he intended to have a conversation with Putin as soon as possible. In December, after an EU summit in Brussels, the French president said it was time for Europe to resume dialogue with Russia. In his opinion, the current format of negotiations on Ukraine, when American representatives discuss the terms of a settlement with Russia without the Europeans, "is not optimal.".