Bangladesh, May 26 -- As Germany continues to struggle with high energy prices and deindustrialization pressures, a senior German politician has called for a dramatic shift in the countrys Russia policy, including the restoration of the sabotaged Nord Stream gas pipelines. Michael Kretschmer, the prime minister of the eastern state of Saxony and a deputy leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), urged Berlin to adopt a “positive approach” toward Moscow and move away from sanctions-only policies, which he claims have failed to yield results and are hurting Germanys economy.

In an interview with Die Zeit published on May 25, Kretschmer argued that the current strategy of isolating Russia economically and dipl...