Vladimir Putin looks to be a big winner from the far-right surge in the recent European Parliament election.
Not content with only exercising control over former Soviet Union members, the Kremlin is now increasing its support across the rest of Europe. One significant symbol of the pro-Russia swing was the decision by the far-right Alternative for Deutschland party (AfD), to refuse to attend Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech to the German Bundestag (Germany’s national parliament) on June 11, along with the populist Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht party. Both parties oppose military support for Ukraine.
The AfD, which won 16% of the vote beating Olaf Schulz’s Social Democrats party into second place in Germany, said that Ukraine’s leader “needed to negotiate so the dying stops” even if this meant losing its territory. These remarks echo Putin’s stance on the war.
