The German states of Thuringia and Saxony on Sunday will choose their respective landtags (state legislatures) to determine who runs their state governments.

Washington, Moscow, and much of the world will be watching. The outcome of these two elections could have a major impact on the German federal government and its support of Ukraine.

The latest polls show the parties likely to place one-two in both states are the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) — some of whose members have been prosecuted for using outlawed Nazi slogans and memorabilia — and the eight-month-old, far-left Bundnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), named after founder and onetime Marxist Leninist Sahra Wagenknecht.

“Both are Euroskeptic, anti-NATO, and anti-American,” wrote Constanze Stelzenmuller, director of the Center on the U.S. and Europe of the Brookings Institute, in the Financial Times. “Both are pro-Russian and against supporting Ukraine.”

It is this common position of both parties that evinces interest and, in all likelihood, excitement from Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin — which has long had a close association with the AfD and its leaders.

Although national elections in Germany are not scheduled until next year, an AfD-BSW capture of the Landtag in Thuringia or Saxony on Sunday would be a blow to the ruling government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

With polls showing record-low approval nationwide for the chancellor, his SPD (Socialist) Party is shown to be perilously over or under the 5% threshold needed to enter the Landtag.

More importantly, an AfD-BSW triumph Sunday in both states would fuel growing reports of German dissatisfaction with the Scholz government’s all-out support of Ukraine in its war with Russia — no doubt something the Kremlin would broadcast as soon as all of the votes were counted.

The most recent Politpro poll of likely Thuringian voters showed a best-ever showing of 29.5% for the AfD, and a record high for the 18.4% for the BSW — which, when translated to seats in the Landtag, is more than enough for them to form a ruling coalition.

Brookings’ Stelzenmuller and columnist Martin Klingst of the German publication Die Zeit insist the AfD and BSW will never form a government together.

Klingst told Newsmax: “AfD and BSW are not going to join forces. But whoever of the traditional parties comes in second or third which will probably be the CDU [conservative] might join forces with BSW, if that is the only option to have a majority in those two parliaments. No one so far wants to coalesce with the AfD.”

But this may be changing.

In a stunning development last week, Katja Wolf, the leading BSW candidate in Thuringia, was asked days in a TV debate whether she would work with AfD. She said she would not vote for an AfD state premier (governor), but she would, conversely, support ideas from AfD that she found reasonable and she would accept support from AfD for her own proposals.

When the moderator then asked her whether that would mean that she would also accept AfD votes should she seek the premiership in the Thuringian state parliament, Wolf remained silent. The moderator then said: “I take this as a yes.” Wolf remained silent.

In Saxony, PolitPro showed the AfD leading with 30.4% — barely behind the ruling CDU (conservative) Party with 32.1% — and the BSW drawing 13.6%.

The polls were conducted before the terrorist attack last Friday at the “Festival of Diversity” in the town of Solingen, Germany, that left Germany reeling. A knife-wielding Syrian man suddenly began stabbing people at the religious festival, wounding eight and killing three. The AfD and BSW have taken hard-line stands against immigration and outrage at the attack could boost their vote totals.

Should what one wag dubbed “the Golilocks scenario” come true and the parties win majorities in Saxony as well as Thuringia, speculation is rampant that the a deal will be struck and an AfD premier elected in one state and a BSW elected in another.

No one knows what will happen. But all observers agree the results from Thuringia and Saxony will have an impact far beyond their borders.

As Die Zeit’s Klingst put it, “If AfD comes out strongest in both federal elections, there will be a lot of turmoil and debate in German politics.”

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.

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