German opposition leader calls for security union with Russia, dissolution of NATO

The parliamentary leader of Germany's largest opposition party has urged the dissolution of the NATO alliance. Her remarks come after US president-elect Donald Trump described it as "obsolete."

German opposition leader Sahra Wagenknecht on Tuesday added her voice to calls to dissolve the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the wake of US President-elect Donald Trump's controversial remarks concerning the military alliance

"NATO must be dissolved and replaced by a collective security system including Russia," Wagenknecht told Germany's "Funke" media group.

Wagenknecht, who leads the opposition Left Party in parliament, added that comments made by the future US president "mercilessly reveal the mistakes and failures of the [German] federal government."

'Very unfair'

In an interview published by German tabloid "Bild," Trump described NATO as an "obsolete" organization.

"I said a long time ago that NATO had problems. Number one it was obsolete, because it was designed many, many years ago," he said.

"We're supposed to protect countries. But a lot of these countries aren't paying what they're supposed to be paying, which I think is very unfair to the United States," Trump added.

Germany's Left Party has previously called for warmer ties with Russia and scrapping the security alliance, measures which appear to be policy concerns for the incoming US administration.

The Left Party is Germany's largest opposition group in parliament, and holds seats in several state legislatures.