For a brief moment, it looked like the longstanding love affair between most of Europe’s rightwing, nationalist, anti-immigration and EU-critical politicians with Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin would prove a fatal mistake. Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has certainly embarrassed them. But so far at least, it does not appear to have done them terminal harm.
A newcomer to the scene, France’s Eric Zémmour, whose extreme Islamophobic rhetoric has done much to make Marine Le Pen seem reasonable, has seen his poll ratings plunge in part because of his previous avowed admiration for Moscow. But Le Pen, despite extensive cosying-up to Putin (including at least one Kremlin meeting with the Russian president, support for his annexation of Crimea, and campaign loans from Moscow banks) has barely been affected by it at all.
