MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's attacks on the Alternative for Germany party are dirty tactics to retain power, linked to his substantial loss of political capital, Leonid Slutsky, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), told TASS.

Earlier, during budget discussions in the Bundestag, Merz accused the AfD faction of advocating, when speaking of "remigration," "nothing other than ethnic cleansing by skin color and origin." In response, the faction filed a statement with the police.

"The German chancellor has substantially lost public support and significantly diminished his own political capital. Merz is a step away from agony and, it seems, is already resorting to dirty tactics to retain power. The provocation on the elections with accusations against Russia in the drone incident at Leipzig airport did not work, so they have moved to direct attacks on opponents," Slutsky said.

He noted that Merz found himself in this situation because of his own short-sightedness and "pursuit of a Russophobic policy to the detriment of the national interests of Germans." "The strengthening of the positions of the AfD and other right-wing parties is a direct consequence of miscalculations in the economy due to the surrender of sovereignty to Euro-Atlanticists. The migration crisis is in fact of the same nature," the parliamentarian pointed out.