Russia’s friends in black
Why Europe’s populists and radicals admire Vladimir Putin
IF EUROPE’S far-right parties do as well as many expect in May’s European election, no world leader will be happier than Vladimir Putin. For a man who claims to be defending Russian-speakers in Ukraine against fascists and Nazis, the Russian president has some curious bedfellows on the fringes of European politics, ranging from the creepy uniformed followers of Jobbik in Hungary to the more scrubbed-up National Front in France.
There was a time when Russia’s friends were principally on the left. There are still some pro-Moscow communists, for instance in Greece. But these days the Kremlin’s chums are most visible on the populist right. The crisis in Ukraine has brought out their pro-Russian sympathies, most overtly when a motley group of radicals was invited to vouch for Crimea’s referendum on rejoining Russia. The “observers” included members of the National Front, Jobbik, the Vlaams Belang in Belgium, Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ) and Italy’s Northern League, as well as leftists from Greece and Germany and an assortment of eccentrics. They declared that the ballot, denounced by most Western governments as illegitimate, had been exemplary.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline "Russia’s friends in black"
More from Europe
“Our Europe can die”: Macron’s dire message to the continent
Institutions are not for ever, after all
Carbon emissions are dropping—fast—in Europe
Thanks to a price mechanism that actually works
Italy’s government is trying to influence the state-owned broadcaster
Giorgia Meloni’s supporters accuse RAI of left-wing bias