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According to the reports, Russia has funded at least 13 far-right groups in Europe. These groups range from small, fringe organizations to major political parties. The report found that Russia has used a variety of methods to fund these groups, including direct financial support, providing training and equipment, and spreading propaganda.

Why does Russia specifically fund far-rights in Europe?

I mean, why far-right, why not any other XYZ groups?

If they are funding EU far-rights, why are they not fond of Ukrainian far-rights?

Rick Smith
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user366312
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    If your argument for war is that you want to free the world from Nazis, it is probably best to make sure there is enough supply of Nazis around. – Eike Pierstorff Jul 09 '23 at 18:44
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    Russia funds those groups that pick up and spread Russian propaganda. Unsurprisingly, those are generally the local Nazis, who are the most likely to view positively the current regime in Russia based on the rule of a strong führer. – Emil Jeřábek Jul 09 '23 at 19:02
  • According to which report? Perhaps the report contains at least the European perspective on this? – meriton Jul 09 '23 at 21:17
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    Concerning France, the far-right is, in the best of my knowledge, anti-U.S – Starckman Jul 10 '23 at 09:47
  • It's no surprise that they fund pro-Russian groups: why wouldn't they? And they won't fund anti-Russian far right groups. It might be more interesting to compare if they also fund pro-Russian far-leftists (e.g. Stalinists in western communist parties) or pro-Russian centrists (which may only be one man, Gerhard Schröder, but there might be more.) – Stuart F Jul 10 '23 at 10:22
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    As far as I'm aware, Russia funds any political group that it can benefit from. Russia funding leftist movements in the 70's caused massive anti-war sentiments regarding the Vietnam War. They are opportunistic in who they fund. There is evidence to suggest Russia helped fund information in favor of and against Black Lives Matter. Remember, you don't need to support Russia to be helping them. Creating political turmoil in an opposing state benefits Russia. The premise of this question isn't accurate. – David S Jul 10 '23 at 15:01
  • @DavidS “ Russia funding leftist movements in the 70's” could you give some concrete examples, concerning Europe and the US? – Starckman Jul 11 '23 at 10:42
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    @DavidS As global powers, such as the US and UK, and their color revolutions, do as well. Pysops works. – paulj Jul 11 '23 at 11:39
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    Isn't this question answered by the article at the second link? – Lag Jul 11 '23 at 12:44

2 Answers2

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Why the Far-Right?

Support those who support you

With similar ideologies, support of "traditional" values and an aversion to more progressive views such as support of LGBT groups, in general European far right groups believe in Putin more than the general population:

Opinions of Putin based on political leaning

Simply put - Russia wouldn't support left leaning groups that tend to (not without exception) be critical of Putin.

Re: far right in Ukraine - they do support those that are pro-russian. Such groups are currently in charge of Lugansk and Donetsk. Far right nationalists, however, have an issue with countries that threaten their national sovereignty and so Russia won't find as many friends there.

We can see that, in general (2020 data) Ukraine has a much lower opinion of Russia than the rest of the world. There are much more positive areas for Russia to have focused it's attention.

2020 worldwide opinions on Putin

Lio Elbammalf
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For one, Putin benefits when his opponents and potential opponents lack the political will to oppose him effectively.

Far-right groups have a long history of arguing "{insert country here} First, other countries' wars are not our problem."

By providing far-right groups in other countries with propaganda to parrot and the resources to spread 'their' message far and wide, he can count on them to muddy up the discourse and prevent said countries from mustering a unified opposition that could cause him problems.

For another (specifically to Europe, both Eastern and Western), he is positioning himself as A Strong, Conservative Leader Fighting Back Against The Woke, Degenerate Liberals. Multiple far-right groups in various European countries tend to praise him as "the kind of leader Conservative Europe needs".

The implications and benefits there should be obvious.

As for why he isn't similarly supportive of far-right Ukranian groups, that should be equally obvious -- they're Ukranian and they're very well aware of what the Russian Army is doing to their people... And they're equally aware that Putin specifically singled them out as a justification for his "Special military operation". They're not going to forgive him for that.

Shadur-don't-feed-the-AI
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