{"id":16234,"date":"2024-06-22T09:37:08","date_gmt":"2024-06-22T09:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/?p=16234"},"modified":"2024-06-27T09:30:25","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T09:30:25","slug":"europes-populists-back-putin-over-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/2024\/06\/europes-populists-back-putin-over-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe\u2019s populists back Putin over Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Not content with only exercising control over former Soviet Union members, the Kremlin is increasing its support across the rest of Europe.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One significant symbol of the pro-Russia swing was the decision by the far-right\u00a0Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland<\/em>\u00a0party (AfD) to\u00a0refuse to attend<\/a>\u00a0the speech by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to the German\u00a0Bundestag<\/em>\u00a0on June 11th, along with the populist\u00a0B\u00fcndnis Sahra Wagenknecht<\/em>. Both parties oppose military support for Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The AfD, which won\u00a016 per cent of the vote<\/a>\u00a0in the European elections in Germany, beating Olaf Scholz\u2019 social democrats into second place, said that Ukraine\u2019s leader \u2018needed to negotiate so the dying stops\u2019, even if this meant losing its\u00a0territory<\/a>. These remarks echo the stance on the war of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n

After the elections, two\u00a0far-right groups<\/a>\u2014the European Conservatives and Reformists and the Identity and Democracy group\u2014control 131 seats out of 720 in the parliament. AfD has another 15 representatives. This adds up to a significant parliamentary far-right power base, and one which will have more\u00a0influence over Europe\u2019s position<\/a>\u00a0on the\u00a0Ukraine war<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Concerns about German far-right parties being too close to Putin prompted a European Parliament resolution in April stating that the AfD must publicly declare all of its financial relationships, especially with\u00a0Russia<\/a>. One might think that the alliance between a supposedly anti-fascist Russian regime and the increasingly fascist right-wing parties in Europe would not be a perfect\u00a0match<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Russia inspires, encourages and funds extremist actors, whether they are pro-Moscow or not. Why? Because they can disrupt other\u00a0countries<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Far-right threats<\/h2>\n

Putin has skilfully influenced and infiltrated agendas of far-right groups, while also building up an\u00a0extensive spy<\/a>\u00a0network in\u00a0Europe<\/a>. Propaganda operations disguised as legitimate news sources have spewed confusing and divisive information that promotes pro-Kremlin narratives, such as the claim the cost-of-living crisis is being driven by sanctions on Russian energy\u00a0products<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is not just Germany\u2019s far right that is sympathetic to Russia but also far-right parties in\u00a0many other European countries<\/a>, including Slovakia\u2019s neo-fascist\u00a0Republika<\/em>, Hungary\u2019s\u00a0Fidesz<\/em>, Romania\u2019s Alliance for the Union of Romanians, Bulgaria\u2019s Revival and France\u2019s\u00a0Rassemblement National<\/em>. All these parties did well in the recent elections and many of their leaders, such as Hungary\u2019s Viktor Orb\u00e1n, have been vocal opponents of Russian\u00a0sanctions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many far-right politicians in the European Parliament have also refused to vote on policies that aim to punish or criticise Putin or Russia. This includes stances on how to respond to repression in Russia, the imprisonment of the human-rights activists Vladimir Kara-Murza and Alexei Navalny, who\u00a0died<\/a>\u00a0in a penal colony, and Russian state support for terrorism. There is also the issue of security in the Eastern\u00a0Partnership<\/a>\u00a0initiative, which aims to strengthen the political-economic relationship between the European Union and partner countries in the\u00a0south Caucasus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Exploiting the European far right offers Putin numerous benefits. These parties tend not to be committed to upholding the institutions of democracy, especially if they are seen as obstacles to enacting conservative policies, such as tougher immigration laws or curtailing LGBT+\u00a0rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The free flow of information and a vibrant civil society pose major threats to Putin\u2019s\u00a0grip on power<\/a>. But Russia offers a model of policies and laws that will erode these rights. These include \u2018foreign agent\u2019 laws restricting funding for non-governmental organisations and independent media, which have passed in Russia, Hungary and most recently\u00a0Georgia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The more authoritarian the world is, the less likely it is that democratic voices within Russia will be supported by other\u00a0nations<\/a>. It is not just democratic countries that pose problems for Putin but also intergovernmental institutions, such as the EU, which advocate an agenda based on human rights and democracy. Putin sees a united EU and its opposition to Moscow\u2019s illiberal vision as a threat. So he seeks to sabotage the west by weakening democratic projects within the\u00a0union<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Putin also benefits from the disarray he creates in European national political\u00a0landscapes<\/a>. This could lead to a less unified North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which is another major obstacle to Russia\u2019s\u00a0ambitions<\/a>\u00a0and has the power to increase the supply of arms to Ukraine.<\/p>\n

New world order<\/h2>\n

Russia\u2019s fight against the\u00a0world order<\/a>\u00a0in place since the end of the cold war resonates with far-right parties. They often talk of \u2018globalist\u2019 forces, which they view as threatening to their national sovereignty and cultural identity. Putin is seen by the far right as a strong and conservative leader who can defend himself against the liberal west, which is trying to undermine these\u00a0values<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s move to become more right-wing, authoritarian and anti-western has served as an anti-liberal role model. The far right also appears to echo Putin\u2019s stance on \u2018traditional\u2019 family\u00a0values<\/a>, which\u00a0typically include<\/a>\u00a0men taking leadership positions and women staying at home to look after children.<\/p>\n

Putin will be delighted to see these allies doing well in the recent elections and gaining more power, which can only be helpful to him. Far-right parties only held 1 per cent of the vote in EU member states in the 1980s but this rose to 10 per cent in the\u00a02010s<\/a>. Today they are poised to hold more political power than ever\u00a0before<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But there are splits in the far right\u2014one of the most divided political groups in\u00a0Europe<\/a>. For instance, the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, is generally supportive of the sanctions on Russia and has not joined the pro-Russia faction. This contrasts with France\u2019s far-right leader, Marine Le Pen, who has had personal and political ties with Putin and is against arming\u00a0Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The role that these far-right parties play in the upcoming years will have serious implications for European democracy and stability. The issues facing Europe are enormous and the rise of the far right is further evidence of not just the\u00a0genuine\u00a0Angst<\/em><\/a>\u00a0brewing over cost-of-living and identity issues but also Russia\u2019s expertise in psychological and information warfare.<\/p>\n

This article is\u00a0republished<\/a> from Social Europe<\/a> via The Conversation<\/a>\u00a0under a Creative Commons licence<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Farage and his Reform party are part of a Far Right tilt to overtly pro-Putin positions across Europe: “The issues facing Europe are enormous and the rise of the far right is further evidence of not just the\u00a0genuine\u00a0Angst\u00a0brewing over cost-of-living and identity issues but also Russia\u2019s expertise in psychological and information warfare.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":431,"featured_media":14471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[421],"tags":[30,243],"class_list":["post-16234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-europe","tag-far-right"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/431"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}